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FIRST   BISHOP   OF   THE   AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL 
ZION   CHURCH. 


One  Hundred  Years 


AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL 
ZION  CHURCH; 


OR, 


THE    CENTENNIAL    OF    AFRICAN    METHODISM. 


By  BISHOP  J.  W.  HOOD,  D.D.,  LL.D., 


AUTHOR  OF 


The   Two  Characters  and  Two  Destinies. 


A.  M.  E.  ZION  BOOK  CONCERN, 

3S3    Bleeeker    Streret,    New    York    City. 

1895. 


Copyright,  1895,  by 
J*.    -W.    H  O  O  ID 

Fairfield,  N.  C. 


INTRODUCTION. 


BY    REV.  WILLIAM    HOWARD    DAY,    A.M.,    D.D. 
General  Secretary  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection. 


Selected  out  of  the  thousands  of  Zion's  ministers  to 
write  the  Introduction  for  Bishop  Hood's  notable  History, 
I  confess  my  shrinking  from  the  task ;  not  because  my 
heart  is  not  in  perfect  sympathy  with  Bishop  Hood's 
noble  aim,  that  is,  to  place  before  the  world  what  has  never 
yet  been  written,  a  complete,  reliable  account  of  the  rise 
and  progress  of  one  of  the  least  known  but  one  of  the 
most  prosperous,  most  aggressive  of  the  many  branches 
of  God's  Church ;  or  because  I  have  any  doubt  concerning 
the  ability  of  Bishop  Hood,  the  author,  to  perform  his 
task :  but  for  fear  that,  with  all  my  love  for  my  Church ; 
with  all  my  confidence  that  it  has  been  and  is  now,  in 
the  hand  of  God,  a  grand  leader  in,  and  a  blessing  to,  the 
world ;  with  all  my  heartfelt  desire  to  do  in  the  best 
way  the  necessary  work  of  simply  "  an  armor-bearer,"  I 
may  not  be  able  to  single  out  with  sufficient  clearness 
the  essential  points  of  that  History,  that  the  truths  thereof 
may  be  intensified  and  burned  into  the  thought  and  life 
of  the  millions  who,  in  this  time  of  Christian  activity, 
worship  at  our  Church's  altars. 

An  Introduction  is  not  really  a  review,  and  yet  is  a  re- 
view in  advance.  The  Introduction  must  know  what  it 
has  to  introduce.     Neither  is  an   Introduction  to  be  a 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

repetition  simply  of  the  History  itself.  The  Introduction 
simply  points  the  way,  like  the  signpost  at  the  crossing 
of  the  roads,  and  like  the  signpost  it  may  suggest  con- 
sideration of  the  better  way.  The  Introduction  is  simply 
the  make-up  of  specimen  pages. 

Having  said  thus  much  in  order  to  modify  any  exag- 
gerated notions  of  the  purview  of  an  Introduction,  let  us 
see  who  and  what  are  before  us. 

Naturally  we  ask  ourselves,  first,  Who  is  James  Walker 
Hood,  D.D.?  Many  of  us  have  met  him.  For  thirty 
years  he  has  been  prominent  in  Zion  Church  work.  We 
know  he  is  a  bishop,  one  of  the  leaders — the  senior 
bishop — the  captain  of  the  Zion  host.  We  have  seen 
him  presiding  over  Conferences ;  we  have  read  his  work, 
The  Negro  in  the  CJiristian  Pulpit ;  we  have  heard  him 
preach  sometimes  some  wonderful  sermons ;  and  we  have 
heard  of  him  as  we  were  told  that  he  planned  this  or 
that — that  this  or  that  was  the  result  of  his  maneuver- 
ing ;  that  he  is  able  and  influential  with  men,  and  that 
his  career  seems  to  have  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God. 
Yet  this  looks  at  and  scans  him  at  a  distance ;  what,  just 
now,  we  need,  is  an  introduction  near  at  hand. 

James  Walker  Hood  was  fortunately  born  to  be  what 
he  is  to-day,  most  useful  in  his  chosen  calling.  He  was 
born  in  a  Christian  family.  His  father  was  one  of  God's 
ambassadors ;  his  mother  an  earnest,  busy  daughter  and 
subsequently  a  motherly  mother  of  the  Church.  He  was 
born  when  among  the  colored  citizens  religion  meant 
live  Christianity ;  the  pulses  of  the  people  were  stirred 
by  the  thrilling  appeals  for  active  devotion  to  God ;  when 
conversion  was  a  necessity ;   when  the  ' '  Ye  must  be  born 


INTRODUCTION.  Vll 

again  !  "  was  echoed  from  every  pulpit  and  preached  in 
every  sermon.  He  was  reared  as  a  boy  when  vital 
Christianity  was  the  aim  of  Church  organization.  He 
was  reared,  too,  when  and  where  the  doctrines  of  equal- 
ity, political  and  civil,  were  voiced  anew  everywhere. 
He  lived  on  the  busy  line  of  ' '  The  Underground  Rail- 
road," and  with  his  parents  and  neighbors  was  made, 
under  the  law  and  over  the  law,  a  factor  to  "proclaim 
liberty  to  the  captive,"  and  to  "let  the  oppressed  go 
free."  He  was  born  into  independent  manly  Church 
government,  and  naturally  caught  the  spirit  of  Father 
Spencer,  Father  Varick,  Father  Rush,  and  of  the  other 
pioneers  in  pilgrimage  to  find  place  for  African  Metho- 
dism, tabooed,  discredited,  jostled  aside,  and  disgraced 
because  of  its  color.  He  was  born  early  enough  to  know 
personally  these  pioneers  of  religious  liberty,  and  natur- 
ally, about  the  year  1859,  we  find  him  an  earnest  minister 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Connection.  Headwise,  therefore,  and  heartwise,  he,  of 
all  others,  is  the  fitting  delineator  of  the  relation  which 
the  colored  American  sustained  to  Church  government  in 
the  early  day.  His  "speech  bewrayeth  him."  His  voice  is 
not  that  of  one  who  has  simply  heard  another  voice,  but 
of  one  who  lived  in  the  seething  caldron  of  proscription, 
even  in  God's  Church ;  and  therefore  heart  and  brain 
and  every  interest  in  life  are  on  fire  in  view  of  the  work 
already  done  and  to  be  done.  And  with  his  soul  aflame 
he  writes  his  burning  words  in  this  History  for  the  Church 
of  his  choice. 

But  he  writes  not  simply  as  a  Methodist  minister,  but 
as  a  scholarly  Methodist  minister.      His   statement  in  his 


Vlll  INTRODUCTION. 

beginning,  his  reasons  for  an  Afric- American  Church, 
his  argument  as  to  "  Nimrod,  the  mighty  hunter,"  his 
insight  into  Nimrod's  and  God's  purposes,  respectively, 
when  the  vain-glorious  people  were  scattered,  dispersed, 
because  their  language  was  confounded — all  evince  a 
thoughtful  mind,  a  literary  preparation  for  his  work, 
and,  as  all  through  his  History,  a  close  study  of  God's 
eternal  word. 

In  his  particular  account  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  America,  and  in  his  statement 
of  the  case  as  between  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
and  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Bishop 
Hood  not  only  evinces  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  dif- 
ferences involved,  but  has  the  bravery  to  place  on  record 
what  a  man  less  self-conscious,  or  less  confident  of  his 
knowledge  of  the  case,  might  well  shrink  from ;  but,  as 
unpalatable  as  some  things  which  he  states  may  seem ,  he 
writes  only  as  his  own  personal  experience  has  justified. 
History  which  is  history  does  not  seek  to  flatter  or  to 
tickle  pleasantly  the  sensibility,  but  gives  us  the  facts  as 
they  existed  at  the  time  of  which  the  writer  discourses. 
If  matters  referred  to  seem  harsh,  it  is  because  they  are 
harsh  as  the  truth  of  the  hour.  And  in  the  ' '  efforts 
for  union "  between  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
and  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Churches, 
it  would  be  to  invalidate  the  facts  to  say  aught  else 
than  the  statement  by  Bishop  Hood,  that  at  no  time  and 
in  no  way  could  it  be  truthfully  said  that  the  failure  of 
union  could  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Connection. 

The  truth  is,  as  faintly  hinted  by  Bishop  Hood,  the 


INTRODUCTION.  IX 

African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection,  because  it 
is  a  Christian  body,  has  seemed  to  be  morbidly  sensitive 
upon  the  subject  of  union,  and  especially  upon  the  union 
of  the  two  bodies  named.  So  frequent  has  it  been,  that 
from  various  portions  of  the  Christian  field  the  Christian 
cry  for  union  has  been  heard  that  to  some  who  look 
simply  on  the  surface  it  seemed  as  if  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Connection  were  afraid  to  go  alone ; 
that  it  must  have  some  company ;  that  it  was  almost  beg- 
ging the  right  to  exist  through  the  grace  or  good  will  of 
some  other  Church  organization ;  when,  if  the  other  (sur- 
face-side) people  knew  the  truth,  they  would  find  that 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  people  were  only 
avoiding  unchristianity  by  the  Christian  position  we  as- 
sumed, and  were — during  every  moment  of  talk  and 
thought  and  negotiations — marching  onward  in  the  work 
of  God  and  winning  victories  in  Christ's  kingdom. 

But  this  book  was  not  written  to  explain  this  matter. 
It  is  simply  an  incident  in  the  Church's  history,  which 
must  be  mentioned  and  commented  upon,  like  a  hundred 
other  matters  which  the  History  must  record. 

In  the  description  of  the  Connection's  early  struggles 
and  the  subsequent  connectional  division  Bishop  Hood 
is  particularly  happy,  for  he  gives  the  events  as  they 
occurred.  The  able  argument  and  defense  of  the  Right 
Rev.  William  H.  Bishop  is  slightly  out  of  place,  be- 
cause it  was  not  at  hand  when  the  main  facts  of  this 
portion  of  the  History  were  being  recorded,  but  it  is  to  be 
found  in  the  volume  toward  its  close,  and  thus  completes 
the  argument  of  each  side  of  that  controversy  long  since 
passed  away  and  largely  forgotten,  except  as  history. 


X  INTRODUCTION. 

The  history  of  the  lives  of  the  pioneers  and  executives 
of  the  Church,  from  Varick  to  and  including  Walters,  is 
not  only  of  interest,  but  is  thrilling.  It  is  not  only  the 
record  of  men,  but  of  men  bent  upon  serving  God  ac- 
cording to  conscience.  As  completely  as  Martin  Luther 
stood  in  his  day  for  defense  of  the  truth  he  believed; 
as  firmly  as  John  Knox  and  Calvin  stood  for  Presbyte- 
rianism,  or  the  Scotch  Covenanters  defended  their  reli- 
gious rights,  listening  to  the  truth 

"  By  Cameron  thundered,  or  by  Renwick  poured  in  gentle  stream," 
leaning  on  their  pikes,  so  devoted  that  in  some  cases  the 
moorlands  of  Scotland  were  dyed  red  as  their  heath- 
erbell,  so  these  new  defenders  of  religious  liberty  in 
this  professedly  free  land  rose  up  out  of  the  environ- 
ments of  bondage,  where  in  many  instances  they  were 
held  in  chains  of  iron,  and  out  of  a  public  sentiment 
which  was  a  clamor  for  exclusion,  stronger  even  than 
chains  of  law,  and  walking  out  upon  the  promises  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts  made  their  demand  for  exercise  of  the 
right  to  worship  God  without  molestation  and  according 
to  the  dictates  of  their  consciences.  And,  living  or 
dying,  they  have  left  to  us  a  legacy  of  principle  and  pur- 
pose and  piety  which  during  the  Church's  march  of  one 
hundred  years  has  glistened  in  our  path_and  pointed 
our  way. 

If  a  resident  of  another  world  or  a  denizen  of  some 
foreign  country  should  desire  to  know,  as  they  will  de- 
sire to  know,  where  humanity  has  lifted  itself  highest ; 
where  oppositions  have  been  most  notably  met  and  van- 
quished ;  where  the  struggle,  even  in  God's  Church,  at 
God's  altars,  was  successively  and  successfully  waged  in 


INTRODUCTION.  XI 

a  Christian  contest  against  unchristian  "Christianity;" 
if  such  should  wish  to  scan  the  history  of  men  and 
women  who  have  risen,  risen  by  force  of  God-given 
ability  and  God-given  help;  risen  from  the  discomfort 
and  poverty  of  their  enforced  condition ;  risen  from  the 
clutches  of  the  mob  which  sought  their  harmless  lives ; 
risen  from  the  ashes  of  their  dwellings  and  the  embers 
of  their  churches  fired  by  the  torch  of  the  incendiary ;  risen 
from  their  Golgotha  and  their  Calvary  of  suffering  to  re- 
spectability and  recognition  and  power,  over  the  law  and 
by  the  law,  he  has  only  to  read  this  book  from  the  com- 
mencement to  its  end  to  find  the  truth  and  be  satisfied. 

To  sum  up  the  wonderful  record  of  this  great,  strug- 
gling Church,  composed  of  men  and  women,  most  of 
them  reared  in  poverty,  I  can  surely  name  this  book  a 
"  History  of  Prodigies."  I  look  upon  the  Hon.  Fred- 
erick Douglass,  who  came  up  from  the  slave  plantation, 
as  not  only  the  best  known  but  the  foremost,  best  re- 
ceived colored  American  in  all  the  world.  Read  his 
statement  in  this  book.  Who  can  tell  what  influence 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  had  in 
shaping  his  destiny?  So  of  a  hundred  others,  members, 
at  some  time,  of  Zion  Church,  and,  in  the  more  circum- 
scribed sphere  of  each,  as  much  a  prodigy  as  he.  Some 
pygmies  lifted  upon  stilts  have  attempted  to  rob  Zion 
Church  of  this  honor,  but  Zion  will  live  and  flourish 
when  the  pygmies  are  forgotten.  The  history  of  some 
of  the  men  and  women  whom  Zion  has  helped  and  who 
have  helped  Zion  is  recorded  in  this  volume.  We  chal- 
lenge the  world  of  one  hundred  years  past  to  produce  a 
brighter  record  of  progress. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION. 

In  these  stirring  times,  when  inquiry  is  awake,  and 
the  indications  of  the  approach  of  justice  are  seen,  no 
other  book  than  this  need  be  read  to  learn  all  that  is 
necessary  of  the  great  problem  of  the  hour  in  this  pro- 
fessedly free  land,  and  how  to  solve  that  problem. 

This  work  comes  in  the  Centennial  Year  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  It  speaks  of  progress, 
churchwise  or  spiritually,  but  necessarily  it  must  also  de- 
lineate the  moral,  the  social,  the  intellectual,  the  financial 
advancement  of  the  classes  whom  it  especially  represents. 

In  this  view  it  is  a  most  timely  contribution  to  the 
necessary  literature  of  this  age,  and  a  complete  defense, 
without  seeking  to  be  so,  of  the  Afric- American  citizen. 


THE   AUTHOR'S   STATEMENT. 


For  several  years  there  has  been  a  call  for  a  more 
complete  history  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  than  has  yet  been  published.  The  author  has 
been  impressed  with  the  idea  that  about  the  close  of  the 
first  hundred  years  of  the  existence  of  the  Church  as  an 
independent  body  would  be  a  good  time  to  publish  such 
facts  as  he  has  been  able  to  put  together.  He  does  not 
put  this  forth  as  anything  like  a  complete  history.  He 
has  not  been  able  to  get  those  interested  who  might  have 
furnished  him  very  much  interesting  and  important  mat- 
ter. What  he  has  given  is  very  largely  what  has  come 
within  his  own  knowledge.  He  acknowledges  indebt- 
edness to  Rev.  E.  H.  Curry,  D.D.,  for  a  sketch  of  the 
Kentucky  Conference;  to  Rev.  W.  H.  Ferguson  for  a 
sketch  of  the  Tennessee  Conference;  to  Bishop C.  C.  Pet- 
tey ,  A .  M . ,  D .  D . ,  for  a  sketch  of  the  Louisiana  Conference ; 
to  Rev.  W.  G.  Strong,  D.D.,  for  some  facts  respecting  the 
Alabama  and  Florida  Conferences;  to  M.  A.  Majors, 
M.D.,  for  a  sketch  of  the  Texas  Conference  ;  to  Rev.  B. 
F.  Wheeler,  A.M.,  S.T.B.,  for  a  sketch  of  the  New  Jersey 
Conference.  His  intention  was  to  publish  about  one  hun- 
dred biographies,  including  persons  in  every  part  of  the 
connection,  but  he  has  only  partially  succeeded.  Several 
who  promised  sketches  have  failed  to  send  them. 

It  was  not  our  purpose  to  boom  men  for  office,  nor  to 

2 


XIV  THE   AUTHOR'S    STATEMENT. 

show  what  fine  things  we  could  say  regardless  of  facts. 
We  wanted  simply  to  present  unquestionable  facts  re- 
specting the  subject.  We  desired  in  the  sketches  to 
present  especially  three  classes :  i .  Those  who  have  been 
distinguished  by  their  great  talents,  improved  and  use- 
fully employed.  2.  Those  who  have  been  great  workers. 
3.  The  young  people  who  are  preparing  themselves  for 
leaders  in  the  near  future.  Respecting  the  second  class, 
it  was  our  hope  to  be  able  to  point  to  the  particular 
church  or  churches  organized,  built,  or  improved  by  the 
subject  of  the  sketch.  This  we  have  thought  would 
prove  to  be  among  the  most  interesting  features  of  the 
history.  We  have  built  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
churches  in  the  last  twenty-five  years.  If  we  were  pre- 
pared to  say  by  whose  instrumentality  each  church  was 
erected  it  would  certainly  add  much  to  the  interest  of  the 
book.  We  have  secured  the  facts  as  far  as  we  have  been 
able  to  do  so.  In  some  cases  we  have  only  been  furnished 
the  number  of  churches  organized  or  built,  without  any 
statement  as  to  where  or  when  the  work  was  done. 

Among  those  who  furnished  the  facts  just  as  were 
desired  are  Revs.  E.  H.  Curry,  R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  J.  H. 
Jackson,  C.  A.  King,  J.  P.  Thompson,  C.  W.  Winfield, 
J.  M.  Hill,  H.  B.  Pettigrew,  and  a  few  others.  These, 
it  will  be  noticed,  were  great  builders ;  they  built  at 
nearly  every  place  to  which  they  were  appointed.  We 
are  sure  that  the  list  of  this  class  of  men,  who  have  been 
making  history  and  building  their  own  monuments, 
might  have  been  greatly  extended  had  the  author  known 
just  how  to  reach  them. 

The  work  that  has  been  accomplished  and  the  sam- 


THE   AUTHOR'S    STATEMENT.  XV 

pies  of  industry  we  have  furnished  are  quite  sufficient  to 
indicate  the  extraordinary  usefulness  of  our  preachers. 
They  have  not  only  preached  the  Gospel  faithfully,  but 
have  superintended  the  erection  of  churches,  and  in  many 
cases  have  worked  upon  them  with  their  own  hands. 
No  body  of  Christians  were  ever  before  found  in  the 
condition  that  the  colored  Methodists  were  at  the  close  of 
the  war.  They  had  not  been  permitted  to  have  separate 
churches,  before  the  war,  except  to  a  very  limited  extent. 
At  the  close  of  the  war  they  were  not  permitted  to  wor- 
ship with  the  whites,  so  that  they  constituted  a  large 
body  of  Christians  without  houses  of  worship.  No  other 
one  generation  of  Christians  has  had  to  build  all  of  its 
churches. 

Respecting  the  sketches,  we  may  remark  that  several 
of  them  are  copied  from  the  Star  of  Zion,  or  Quarterly,  or 
some  other  paper,  for  which  credit  is  given ;  of  some  we 
have  only  given  an  extract,  because  of  their  great  length 
or  superfluity.  In  requesting  the  sketches  we  stated  the 
facts  that  we  wanted,  but  some,  disregarding  our  request, 
sent  us  what  we  did  not  ask  for  and  failed  to  send  what 
we  did  ask  for.  In  such  cases  we  have  done  the  best  we 
could  with  what  we  got,  in  harmony  with  our  design. 
One  splendid  writer  sent  us  a  sketch  in  which  he  made 
his  subject  the  "Colored  Phillips  Brooks."  We  should 
not  seek  to  be  anybody  but  ourselves,  nor  permit  any- 
body to  make  us  other  than  ourselves ;  you  belittle  your 
subject  when  you  have  to  go  outside  of  him  to  find 
material  to  build  him  out  of.  One  of  the  beauties  in  the 
character  of  Bishop  Jones  was  that  he  was  great  in  him- 
self.    His  idea  was  not  to  be  a  Webster,   nor  a  Phillips, 


XVI  THE   AUTHOR'S    STATEMENT. 

nor  a  Sumner,  but  a  Jones.  A  man  who  amounts  to 
anything  is  at  his  best  when  he  is  himself.  David  dis- 
carded Saul's  armor;  the  sling  and  smooth  stone  were 
his.  In  the  case  we  are  considering  the  biographer  had 
no  occasion  to  go  outside  of  his  subject  for  matter.  He 
was  writing  of  a  man  who  has  splendid  abilities  of  his 
own,  and  we  could  not  permit  him  to  lose  his  identity; 
so  if  the  biography  does  not  appear  just  as  it  was  writ- 
ten, both  the  writer  and  the  subject  will  understand  the 
reason  why.  And  some  little  changes  in  others  may  be 
accounted  for  in  the  same  way.  If  anyone  should  think 
that  we  might  have  gone  a  little  further  in  the  same 
direction,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  there  are  some 
privileged  characters  in  everything  under  human  control. 
While  the  book  is  mainly  a  history  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  a  little  outside  matter 
is  thrown  in  to  heighten  the  interest.  The  second  chap- 
ter is  a  sketch  of  the  origin  and  greatness  of  the  ancient 
ancestors  of  the  Afro- American  race. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  Early  Race  Distinctions i 

II.  The  Negro  Race 27 

III.  Particular  Account  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 

Zion  Church  in  America 56 

IV.  Bethel  Versus  Zion  . . . : 130 

V.  The  Characteristics   of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 

Zion  Church 154 

VI.  First  Bishop  of  the  Church  and  His  Successors 162 

Right  Rev.  James  Varick 162 

Bishop  Christopher  Rush 168 

Bishop  Joseph  Jackson  Clinton,  D.D 172 

Bishop  John  J.  Moore,  D.D 174 

Bishop  S.  T.  W.  Jones 178 

Bishop  J.  W.  Loguen 1 80 

Bishop  J.  D.  Brooks 182 

Bishop  W.  H.  Bishop 184 

Bishop  S.  D.  Talbot 184 

Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  LL.D 1S5. 

Bishop  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  D.D.,  M.D 188 

Bishop  Thomas  Henry  Lomax,  D.D 191 

Bishop  C.  R.  Harris,  D.D 202 

Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton,  D.D 207 

Bishop  A.  Walters,  D.D 209 

VII.  Conferences  and  Personal  Sketches 213 

New  York  Conference 213 

Mrs.  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson 216 

Rev.  E.  G.  Clifton,  D.D 218 

Rev.  Mark  Anthony  Bradley 219 

Rev.  J.  S.  Caldwell,  A.M.,  B.D 222 

Rev.  Jacob  Thomas,  D.D 223 

Philadelphia  Annual  Conference 226 

Rev.  R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  D.D 227 

Rev.  J.  B.  Small,  A.M.,  D.D 233 

Rev.  G.  W.  Offley,  D.D 236 


XV111  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Rev.  James  Harvey  Anderson , 238 

Rev.  J.  W.  Smith 240 

New  England  Conference 243 

Rev.  G.  L.  Blackwell,  A.M.,  S.T.B 245 

Rev.  Nathaniel  James  Greene,  D.D 250 

Rev.  Samuel  C.  Birchmore 254 

Rev.  J.  B.  Colbert 256 

Rev.  William  B.  Fenderson,  A.B.,  S.T.B 259 

Rev.  William  B.  Bowen 261 

Rev.  G.  H.  Washington 264 

Allegheny  Conference 264 

Rev.  Smith  Claiborne 265 

Rev.  George  Wylie  Clinton,  A.M 268 

Rev.  Robert  E.  Wilson,  M.A 274 

Genesee  Conference 276 

Rev.  J.  W.  Lacey   - 277 

Rev.  James  E.  Mason,  B.D 279 

Southern  Conference 282 

Mrs.  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood 282 

Rev.  William  J.  Moore,  D.D 285 

Rev.  Owen  L.  W.  Smith 287 

North  Carolina  Conference 289 

Rev.  Robert  Harrison  Simmons,  D.D 301 

Rev.  F.  K.  Bird,  D.D 307 

Louisiana  Conference 312 

Rev.  T.  F.  H.  Blackman 313 

Rev.  G.  H.  S.  Bell 315 

Professor  William  Howard  Day,  D.D 321 

Kentucky  Conferettce 327 

Rev.  James  Bartlett  Johnson 332 

Tennessee  Conference 336 

Rev.  A.  G.  Kesler 339 

Rev,  Frederick  M.  Jacobs,  A.B.,  B.D 346 

Virginia  Conference 353 

Rev.  James  H.  Manley,  D.D 356 

Rev.  W.  H.  Newby 358 

South  Carolina  Conference 359 

Rev.  Nero  Alexander  Crockett 362 

Georgia  Conferettce 364 

Alabatna  Conference 3^5 

Rev.  Solomon  Deny 370 

Rev.  John  Wesley  Alstork,  D.D 374 

Rev.  Titus  Atticus  Weathington 377 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS.  xix 

PAGE 

California  Conference 379 

Florida  Conference 380 

West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Conference 381 

Rev.  Daniel  James  Adams 382 

New  yersey  Conference 384 

Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler,  B.D 396 

Bahama  Island  Conference 399 

Canada  and  Michigan  Cotiference 400 

Central  North  Carolina  Conference 401 

Warren  C.  Coleman 403 

Rev.  James  Monroe  Hill 407 

Rev.  Robert  Stephen  Rieves,  D.D 412 

Rev.  Robert  Russell  Morris,  D.D 414 

Rev.  R.  Haywood  Stitt,  B.D 420 

West  Alabama  Conference 423 

Rev.  Franklin  A.  Clinton 425 

Rev.  P.  J.  Mcintosh.  D.D , 429 

Arkansas  Conference . 433 

Rev.  S.  L.  Corrothers. 434 

Texas  Conference 435 

North  Georgia  Conference 439 

South  Florida  Conference 439 

Missouri  Conference 440 

North  Louisiana  Conference 441 

Western  North  Carolina  Conference 443 

Rev.  George  Samuel  Adams 444 

Rev.  William  Harvey  Goler,  D.D 447 

Ohio  Conference 455 

South  Mississippi  Conference , 456 

Palmetto  Conference 456 

Oregon  Conference 456 

Blue  Ridge  Conference 457 

General  Conference,  1 892 457 

J.  C.  Price,  D.D 459 

Rev.  Eli  George  Biddle,  B.D 480 

Hon.  John  C.  Dancy 482 

General  Conference  Delegates 490 

Bishops'  Quadrennial  Address 498 

VIII.  Miscellaneous „ 522 

Constitution „ 525 

Constitution  of  Ministers'  Mutual  Benefit  Society 528 


XX  TABLE    OF   CONTENTS, 

PAGE 

Mrs.  Katie  Walters 536 

Sister  Mary  Roberts . 538 

Mrs.  Sarah  E.  C.  Dudley  Pettey 538 

Hon.  Frederick  Douglass 541 

Rev.  Jehu  Holliday,  D.D 542 

Rev.  Mark  M.  Bell 544 

Henry  Page  Derrit 547 

Rev.  John  Hooper , 548 

Rev.  G.  B.  Farmer 550 

Rev.  J.  H.   Mattocks 551 

Rev.  Andrew  J.  Warner,  D.D 553 

Rev.  E.  H.  Curry,  D.D 556 

Rev.  B.  M.  Gudger , 559 

Rev.  W.   H.  Ferguson,  D.D 561 

Rev.  C.  W.  Winfield,  D.D 564 

Rev.  H.  B.  Pettigre vv 566 

Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson 568 

Rev.  D.  I.  Walker 572 

Rev.  Thomas  Page  R.  Moore  575 

Rev.  C.  A.  King 577 

Rev.  James  H.  Jackson , 580 

Rev.  George  C.  Carter 587 

Rev.  A.  F.  Goslen 589 

Rev.  Alexander  Johnson  Coleman 592 

Rev.  W.  H.  Chambers „  593 

Rev.  J.  H.  Trimble 596 

Rev.  Martin  R.  Franklin 597 

W.  D.  Clinton,  M.D 598 

Rev.  Simeon  F.  Dickson 600 

John  Taylor  Williams,   M.D 602 

Rev.  William  T.  W.  Biddle 605 

Rev.  Charles  H.  Smith,  B.D 608 

Edward  Moore,  Ph.D 610 

Rev.  Jesse  Sumner  Cowles 613 

Rev.  John  Thomas 615 

Rev.  M.  H.  D.  Ross 616 

Rev.  M.  G.  Thomas 619 

Major  A.  G.  Oden 620 

Summary  by  Conferences 624 

Summary  by  States 625 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Bishop  James  Varick Frontispiece 

Bishop  Christopher  Rush 169 

Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  D.D 173 

Bishop  John  J.  Moore,  D.D 174 

Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  LL.D.  186 
Bishop  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  M.D., 

D.D 189 

Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D 192 

Bishop     Charles     Calvin     Pettey 

A.M.,  D.D 196 

Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton,  D.D..  .  . 208 

Bishop  A.  Walters,  D.D 210 

Mrs.  Bishop  Thompson 217 

Rev.  E.  G.  Clifton,   D.D 218 

Rev.  Mark  Anthony  Bradley 220 

Rev.  J.  S.  Caldwell,  A.M.,  B.D.. .   222 

Rev.  Jacob  Thomas,  D.D 224 

Rev.  R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  D.D 228 

Rev.  J.  B.  Small,  A.M.,  D.D 234 

Rev.  J.  H.  Anderson 239 

Rev.  J.  W.  Smith 241 

Rev.  G.  L.  Blackwell,  A.M.,  S.T.B.  246 

Rev.  N.  J.  Greene,  D.D 251 

Rev.  Samuel  C.  Birchmore 255 

Rev.  J.  B.  Colbert 257 

Rev.  William  B.  Fenderson,  A.B., 

S.T.B 260 

Rev.  William  B.  Bowen 262 

Rev.  Smith  Claiborne 266 

Rev.   G.W.Clinton,  A.M 269 

Rev.  R.  E.  Wilson,  M.A 275 


PAGE 

Rev.  J.  W.  Lacey 278 

Rev.  James  E.  Mason,  B.D 280 

Mrs.  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood 283 

Rev.  W.  J.  Moore,  D.D 286 

Rev.  Owen  L.  W.  Smith 288 

Rev.   Robert    Harrison    Simmons, 

D.D 302 

Rev.  F.  K.  Bird,  D.D 308 

Rev.  J.  B.  Johnson 332 

Rev.  A.  G.  Kesler 340 

Rev.  F.  M.  Jacobs,  A.B.,  B.D 347 

Rev.  J.  H.  Manley,  D.D 357 

Rev.  W.  H.  Newby 359 

Rev.  N.  A.  Crockett 363 

Rev.  Solomon  Deny 371 

Rev.  J.  W.  Alstork,  D.D 375 

Rev.  T.  A.  Weathington 378 

Rev.  D.  J.  Adams 383 

Rev.   B.  F.  Wheeler,  A.M.,  B.D., 

S.T.B 397 

Warren  C.  Coleman.  •> 404 

Rev.  J.  M.   Hill 408 

Rev.  R.  S.  Rieves,  D.D 4t3 

Rev.  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D 415 

Rev.  R.  H.  Stitt,  B.D 421 

Rev.  F.  A.  Clinton 426 

Rev.  P.  J.  Mcintosh,  D.D 431 

Rev.  S.  L.  Corrothers 434 

Rev.  G.  S.  Adams 445 

Rev.  W.  H.  Goler,  D.D 449 

Bishop  S.  T.  Jones 458 


XX11 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Rev.  J.  C.  Price,  D.D 460 

Rev.  E.  G.  Biddle,  B.D. .... 481 

Hon.  J.  C.  Dancy 483 

Mrs.  Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax 521 

Mrs.  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones 521 

First    African    Methodist    Episco- 
pal  Zion    Church,    Providence, 

R.  1 523 

Mrs.  Katie  Walters 537 

Mrs.  Sarah  E.  C.  Dudley  Pettey. .  539 

Mrs.  Bishop  C.  R.  Harris 540 

Mrs.  Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton 540 

Rev.  J.  H.  Mattocks 552 

Rev.  B.  M.  Gudger 560 

Rev.  Jehu  Holliday,  D.D 582 


PAGE 

Rev.  E.  H.  Curry,  D.D 582. 

Rev.  S.  T.   Gray,   M.D 586 

Rev.  W.   H.  Chambers 594 

W.  D.  Clinton,  M.D 599 

Rev.  S.  F.  Dickson 601 

J.  T.  Williams,  M.D 603 

Rev.  C.   H.  Smith,  B.D 609 

Professor  E.  Moore,  A.M.,  Ph.D. .  611 

Rev.  J.  S.  Cowles 614 

Rev.  M.  H.  D.  Ross 617 

Rev.   M.  G.  Thomas 619 

Major  A.  G.  Oden 621 

Varick     Memorial    Building     and 
African      Methodist     Episcopal 

Zion  Publishing  House 623 


ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS 


OF   THE 


African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY  RACE  DISTINCTIONS. 

At  the  birth  of  Methodism  in  this  country  its  handful 
of  votaries  were  so  simple  and  honest,  and  so  free  from 
any  thought  of  race  distinctions  in  the  divine  presence, 
that  no  special  notice  was  taken  of  the  fact  that  there 
were  colored  people  present  to  their  disparagement. 
When  Captain  Webb  and  his  associates  met  in  a  sail  loft 
in  1765,  on  what  was  then  known  as  the  Battery,  at  the 
south  end  of  New  York  city,  they  thought  not  of  the 
complexion  of  the  attendants,  but  rather  of  the  salvation 
of  their  souls.  And  four  years  later,  when  John  Street 
Church  was  built  to  accommodate  the  congregation  of 
that  first  formed  Methodist  Church  in  America,  there 
were  no  Negro  pews  nor  back  seats  nor  gallery  especially 
provided  for  the  dark-skinned  members.  They  were 
welcomed  in  common  with  other  members  to  all  the 
privileges  of  God's  house  and  worship. 

This  happy  state  of  affairs,  however,  did  not  long  con- 
tinue.    As  the  little  despised  body  of  Methodists  grew 


i 


2  ONE    HUNDRED    YE^RS    OF   THE 

larger  and  extended  its  borders,  among  the  increasing 
numbers  Negro  haters  crept  in,  and  in  the  course  of 
time  affected  the  entire  body  with  that  plague,  and,  as 
all  know,  eventually  resulted  in  division.  Previous  to 
the  secession  of  the  Southern  portion  of  the  Church  in 
1844  there  had  been  several  smaller  secessions  result- 
ing from  the  Negro  question.  In  fact,  the  Negro  ques- 
tion has  affected  every  Church  in  America.  Although 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  stood  the  shock  of  the 
antislavery  agitation,  yet  one  of  the  great  questions  in 
that  Church  to-day  is  the  Negro  question. 

American  slavery  for  its  own  aggrandizement  at- 
tempted to  chattelize  the  whole  of  one  of  the  three 
great  branches  of  the  human  family.  To  do  this  effec- 
tually it  was  necessary  to  deny  its  consanguinity  to  other 
races,  and  in  every  way  possible  to  crush  out  its  manhood 
and  make  the  impression  upon  the  American  people  that 
the  Negro  was  of  an  inferior  order  of  beings.  Some  went 
so  far  as  to  deny  that  the  Negro  had  a  soul ;  it  was 
claimed  by  some  that  he  sprang  from  some  species  of 
the  monkey,  gorilla,  or  orang-outang.  If  those  who 
advocated  these  notions  really  believed  them  they  placed 
the  proud  Caucasian  race  in  a  very  unenviable  position ; 
for  the  females  of  this  race,  who  were  thus  represented 
as  she  animals  without  souls,  were  ofttimes  the  bosom 
companions  of  white  men  and  the  mothers  of  their  chil- 
dren. Then  the  question  arises,  What  portion  of  a  soul 
did  the  offspring  have?  The  father  had  a  soul,  the 
mother  none;  did  the  offspring  have  just  half  a  soul? 
But  these  inconsistent  and  nonsensical  ideas  were  put 
forth  to  quiet  the  conscience  of  the  American  people  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  3 

to  prevent  the  uprising  of  a  sentiment  which  would  en- 
danger the  accursed  institution. 

This  purpose  to  maintain  the  inferiority  of  the  Negro 
was  seen  in  the  effort  to  close  the  door  of  every  social 
organization  against  him.  The  door  of  masonry  was  so 
effectually  barred  against  him  by  American  lodges  that 
he  is  wholly  indebted  to  the  English  army  lodges  and  to 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  England  for  the  privileges  of  that 
ancient  fraternity.  He  has  likewise  been  barred  from 
nearly  every  social  organization  in  America,  at  the  bid- 
ding of  the  slave  power. 

It  is  easy,  therefore,  to  understand  how  this  same  in- 
fluence would  affect  the  Negro  in  his  Church  relation. 
There  was  not  the  same  universal  disposition  to  keep  him 
out  of  the  Church  ;  he  was  wanted  in  the  Church  for  the 
support  he  gave  it,  for  the  numbers  he  enabled  sectarians 
to  claim  in  exhibiting  their  strength,  and,  with  the  mi- 
nority, who  were  truly  pious,  he  was  wanted  there  for  the 
good  of  his  soul.  For  these  and  other  reasons  he  was 
not  kept  entirely  out  of  the  Church.  But  in  the  Church 
he  was  hampered  and  regulated.  His  privileges  were 
proscribed  and  limited ;  every  possible  effort  was  made 
to  impress  him  with  a  sense  of  inferiority.  Preachers 
were  selected  who  delighted  in  discoursing  to  him  upon 
such  texts  as  " Servants,  obey  your  masters,'"  and  who  were 
adepts  at  impressing  the  Negro  with  his  inferiority  in 
the  most  ingenious  and  least  offensive  way.  This  state 
of  things  was  not  confined  to  any  one  particular  branch 
of  the  American  Church,  but  it  was  found  in  every  de- 
nomination and  in  every  community  in  which  there  was 
any  considerable  number  of  the  black  race. 


4  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  first  outcropping  of  this  wicked  spirit  which  we 
have  noticed  in  Church  history  is  recorded  in  the  Min- 
utes of  the  Methodist  Conference  which  was  held  in 
Baltimore  in  1780.  The  twenty-fifth  question  pro- 
pounded in  that  Conference  was  as  follows : 

Question  25.  Ought  not  the  assistant  [Mr.  Asbury]  to  meet  the  colored 
people  himself,  and  appoint  as  helpers  in  his  absence  proper  white  persons, 
and  not  suffer  them  to  stay  late  and  meet  by  themselves  ? 

Answer.     Yes.* 

This,  no  doubt,  was  the  origin  of  that  regulation 
throughout  the  South  which  forbade  any  considerable 
number  of  blacks  meeting  together  without  the  presence 
of  a  white  person.  It  was  many  years  after  1780  before 
this  stringent  measure  was  placed  upon  the  statute  books 
of  many  of  the  States,  but  here  we  find  it  adopted  by  a 
Christian  body  against  a  portion  of  its  own  members.  If 
they  were  members  in  common  with  others  they  ought 
to  have  been  permitted  to  meet  in  common  with  others. 
It  seems  that  they  were  not,  but  had  separate  meetings, 
even  at  that  early  day,  at  least  in  Baltimore  and  some 
other  Southern  cities.  Qf  they  were  obliged  to  have 
separate  meetings  they  ought  to  have  been  permitted  to 
have  leaders  of  their  owmj  This  they  were  denied,  and 
this  denial  was  a  subservience  to  the  proslavery  proclivi- 
ties of  the  times.  This  state  of  affairs  did  not  only  exist 
in  the  Methodist  Church,  but  in  all  Churches  which  had 
any  considerable  number  of  colored  members.  So  that 
about  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  there  was  a 
general  restlessness  among  the  colored  members  of  all 
denominations,  which  resulted  in  a  movement  unparal- 

*  See  Compilation  of  Minutes  by  Daniel  Hitt  and  Thomas  Ware,  in  1813. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  5 

lele.d  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church ;  a  move- 
ment which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Negro 
Church,  not  of  one  denomination  only,  but  of  all  denom- 
inations to  which  any  considerable  number  of  colored 
people  belonged.  We  can  trace  the  origin  of  every  im- 
portant branch  of  the  Afro- American  Church  back  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  or  beginning  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  movement  was  widespread  and  nearly 
simultaneous.  In  1 796  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  was  organized  in  New  York ;  in  1 804 
the  Abyssinian  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in  New 
York ;  the  Joy  Street  Baptist  Church  was  organized  in 
Boston  in  1805;  in  1806  the  Colored  Methodist  Church 
was  organized  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  which  resulted  seven 
years  later  in  the  organization  of  the  African  Union 
(Methodist)  Church  in  the  same  city ;  the  First  African 
Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  in  Philadelphia  in 
1807  ;  about  1809  the  First  Colored  Methodist  Church  was 
also  organized  in  Philadelphia,  which  resulted  seven  years 
later  in  the  formation  of  the  (Bethel)  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  ^_This  was  a  most  remarkable  move- 
ment, and,  we  repeat,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the 
Christian  Church.  It  was  a  general  exodus  of  the  colored 
members  out  of  the  white  Churches  for  reasons  never 
before  known.  Secessions  from  Churches  are  generally 
the  result  of  differences  of  opinion  on  doctrine  or  Church 
government.  But  it  was  neither  of  these  which  caused 
this  movement.  The  seceders  in  every  case  formed 
Churches  of  the  same  faith  and  order,  and  the  same  form 
of  Church  government  as  that  from  which  they  separated. 
This  movement  took  place  when  means  of  travel  and 


6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

of  communication  were  limited  and  poor.  There,  was 
but  little  opportunity  for  consultation,  and  yet  the  race 
moved  as  a  unit.  To  one  unacquainted  with  the  state 
of  affairs  the  question  would  naturally  arise  in  the  mind, 
What  could  have  given  rise  to  this  movement  of  a  whole 
scattered  race,  of  one  accord,  with  one  mind  and  purpose, 
and  in  one  direction  ? 

Nothing-  but  the  desire  for  the  freedom  which  was  de- 
nied them  in  the  white  Church  could  have  produced  this 
general  exodus.  Like  causes  produce  like  effects  wher- 
ever they  operate,  and  the  disposition  to  cramp  and  pro- 
scribe the  black  brother,  operating  in  all  denominations, 
had  the  same  general  effect.  The  oppression  being 
general,  the  desire  to  escape  it  became  general. 

There  has  been  a  disposition  on  the  part  of  several 
branches  of  the  Negro  Church  to  claim  priority  in  this 
movement;  at  least  five  denominations  claim  to  have 
moved  first.  We  shall  not  at  this  point  enter  into  the 
controversy  on  that  question ;  the  mind's  eye  rests  upon 
a  higher  and  grander  view ;  the  general  movement  towers 
up  with  such  inexpressible  grandeur  that  in  comparison 
with  it  the  consideration  of  any  one  branch  dwindles  into 
insignificance.  Besides  this,  we  have  concluded  that  in 
one  sense  each  may  have  been  first ;  that  is,  in  its  incep- 
tion the  movement  was  one.  God  moved  at  once  upon 
the  heart  of  the  race,  and  from  that  time  there  was  a 
restlessness  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Afro-American  Church  in  general.  How  else  can  we  ac- 
count for  the  conflicting  claims?  We  desire  to  be  strictly 
fair,  and  to  our  mind  this  was  not  a  Presbyterian  or 
Baptist  movement ;    it  was  not  a  Bethel,  Union,  or  Zion 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  7 

movement ;  but  it  was  a  grand  united  Negro  movement. 
It  was  the  race  that  was  oppressed,  it  was  the  race  that 
moved.  It  was  a  movement  by  which  a  race,  hampered, 
proscribed,  regulated,  and  oppressed,  gave  a  grand  united 
exhibition  of  its  determination  to  find  in  its  own  organ- 
izations that  religious  liberty  which  was  denied  it  in  the 
white  Church. 

In  forming  these  organizations  there  were  many  diffi- 
culties to  be  overcome.  The  ministers  of  the  several 
denominations  were  opposed  to  the  movement,  especially 
the  Methodist  ministers,  including  a  majority  of  the 
bishops ;  and  the  episcopal  form  of  government  was  fav- 
orable to  the  purpose  of  the  Methodist  ministers  to  hinder 
the  success  of  the  colored  brethren  in  their  effort  to  be 
free.  The  Presbyterians  and  Baptists  had  only  to  find 
three  friendly  presbyters  in  order  to  secure  ordination ; 
but  in  the  Methodist  Church  the  authority  to  ordain  was 
vested  in  the  bishops  and  Conferences.  The  Conference 
elects  and  the  bishop  conducts  the  ordination.  This  be- 
ing the  case,  it  was  much  more  easy  to  hedge  up  the  way 
of  the  colored  Methodist.  By  magnifying  the  impor- 
tance of  particular  forms  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  sow 
discord  in  the  ranks  of  the  blacks,  and  this  was  freely 
done.  Much  is  now  said  about  the  folly  of  having  so 
many  branches  of  the  African  Methodist  Church,  but  the 
mother  Church  is  almost  wholly  responsible  for  this  folly. 
If  she  had  granted  the  request  of  Zion  Church  when  it 
was  first  formed,  to  ordain  her  ministers,  they  would 
have  gone  forth  and  built  up  a  connection,  and  no  other 
could  have  been   formed.     We  shall  have  more  to  say 

on  this  point  in  another  place.     When  we  think  of  the 
3 


8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

indignities  which  were  heaped  upon  the  Negro  in  the 
white  Church  we  cannot  wonder  that  he  came  out. 

The  following  address,  issued  by  the  founders  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  who  were 
among  the  most  conservative  Christians  of  their  day, 
gives  an  epitome  of  the  disadvantages  to  which  they  were 
subjected  in   the  white   Church,   and    certainly  justifies 

their  action. 

founders'  address. 
To  the  Members  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in 
America  : 


c* 


Beloved  Brethren  :  We  think  it  proper  to  state  briefly  that,  after 
due  consideration,  the  official  members  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Zion  and  Asbury  Churches,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  have  been  led  to 
conclude  that  such  was  the  relation  in  which  we  stood  to  the  white  bish- 
ops and  Conference  relative  to  the  ecclesiastical  government  of  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Church  or  Society  in  America,  that  so  long  as  we  remained 
in  that  situation  our  preachers  would  never  be  able  to  enjoy  those  privileges 
which  the  Discipline  of  the  white  Church  holds  out  to  all  its  members  that 
are  called  of  God  to  preach,  in  consequence  of  the  limited  access  our 
brethren  had  to  those  privileges,  and  particularly  in  consequence  of  the 
difference  of  color.  We  have  been  led  also  to  conclude  that  the  usefulness 
of  our  preachers  has  been  very  much  hindered,  and  our  brethren  in  general 
have  been  deprived  of  those  blessings  which  Almighty  God  may  have  de- 
signed to  grant  them  through  the  means  of  those  preachers  whom  he  has 
from  time  to  time  raised  up  from  among  them,  because  there  have  been 
no  means  adopted  by  the  said  bishops  and  Conference  for  our  preachers 
to  travel  through  the  connection  and  promulgate  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  ;  and  they  have  had  no  access  to  the  only  source  from  whence 
they  might  have  obtained  a  support,  at  least,  while  they  traveled.  Under 
these  circumstances  they  believe  that  the  formation  of  an  itinerant  plan  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Conference  for  the  African  Methodist  preachers  of 
the  United  States  would  be  essential  to  the  prosperity  of  the  spiritual  con- 
cerns of  our  colored  brethren  in  general,  and  would  be  the  means  of  ad- 
vancing our  preachers  (who  are  now  in  regular  standing  in  connection 
with  the  white  preachers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church),  whenever 
it  should  be  found  necessary,  for  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's 
kingdom  among  our  brethren,  to  bring  forward  for  ordination  those 
who  are  called  of  God  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord,  which  may 
be  done  from  time  to  time,  according  to  the  best  of    our    judgment  of 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  9 

the  necessity  thereof,  and  not  according  to  the  method  which  it  is  nat- 
ural to  suppose  our  white  brethren  would  pursue,  to  determine  upon 
the  necessity  of  such  ordination.  We  are  under  strong  impression  of  mind 
that  such  measures  would  induce  many  of  our  brethren  to  attend  divine 
worship  who  are  yet  careless  about  their  eternal  welfare  and  thereby 
prove  effectual  in  the  hands  of  God  in  the  awakening  and  conversion 
of  their  souls  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 

And  whereas,  Almighty  God,  in  his  all-wise  and  gracious  providence, 
has  recently  offered  a  favorable  opportunity  whereby  these  societies  may 
be  regularly  organized  as  an  evangelical  African  connection,v'we  have 
therefore  resolved  to  embrace  the  said  opportunity,  and  have  agreed  that 
the  title  of  the  connection  shall  be  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  America,  and  we  have  selected  a  form  of  Discipline,  from 
that  of  our  mother  Church  (with  a  little  alteration),  which  selection  we  rec- 
ommend to  you  for  the  Doctrines  and  Discipline  of  our  Church,  hoping 
that  the  great  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  souls,  the  all-wise  and  gracious 
God,  will  be  pleased  to  approve  of  the  above  measures  and  grant  that  we 
may  obtain  and  preserve  those  privileges  which  we  have  been  heretofore 
deprived  of  ;  that  thereby  we  may  unite  our  mutual  efforts  for  the  pros- 
perity of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom  among  us  and  for  the  encouragement 
of  our  colored  brethren  in  the  ministry. 

Earnestly  soliciting  your  prayers  and  united  endeavors  for  the  same,  we 
remain  your  affectionate  brethren  and  servants  in  the  kingdom  of  our 
ever-adorable  Lord,  Abraham  Thompson, 

James  Varick, 
William  Miller. 

The  great  respect  that  these  men  had  for  the  mother 
Church  is  seen  in  the  care  they  took  not  to  use  language 
which  might  be  offensive.  This  is  not  only  seen  in  this 
address  to  their  own  people,  but  it  characterizes  every 
document  emanating  from  them  during  the  twenty  years 
or  more  that  they  were  in  correspondence  with  the  bishops 
and  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  trying 
to  get  that  body  to  assist  them  in  their  effort  to  establish 
in  a  regular  way  an  ordained  ministry  in  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

Like  those  separating  from  the  white  people  of  other 
denominations,  it  was  the  design  of  the  Zion  and  Asbury 


IO  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Churches  to  maintain  the  same  doctrine  and  set  up  the 
same  form  of  government  as  the  Church  from  which 
they  sprung,  and  they  were  especially  desirous  that 
the  bishops  of  that  Church  should  ordain  their  minis- 
ters. They  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  doctrine  or 
form  of  government ;  the  only  trouble  was  that  they 
could  not,  in  that  organization,  on  account  of  their  color, 
enjoy  the  privileges  it  offered  to  others.  The  teaching 
from  the  pulpit  was,  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons. The  practice  was,  that  the  black  people  were  pro- 
scribed and  hindered  from  exercising  themselves  with 
that  freedom  which  the  form  of  government  held  out  to 
white  members.  Both  the  masses  and  also  those  who 
were  favored  with  special  gifts  and  callings  were  discrim- 
inated against.  The  colored  members  were  not  permitted 
to  come  to  the  sacrament  until  all  the  white  members, 
even  children,  had  communed.  The  line  was  also  drawn 
at  the  baptismal  font. 

We  have  heard  a  story  told  of  a  minister  who  was 
baptizing  children.  When  he  had  gotten  through  with 
the  white  children  he  looked  up  to  the  gallery  and  said, 
"  Now  you  niggers  can  bring  your  children  down."  A 
sister  brought  her  child  and  presented  it,  when  the  min- 
ister said,  "Name  this  child."  The  mother  said, 
"  George  Washington."  The  minister  looked  at  her  for 
a  moment  as  though  she  had  been  guilty  of  some  great 
crime,  and  said,  "George  Washington,  indeed! 
Caesar's  his  name.  Caesar,  I  baptize  thee,"  etc.  Now, 
Caesar  is  no  mean  name ;  but  that  mother  thought  she 
had  a  right  to  select  from  the  list  of  dignitaries  the  name 
most  pleasing  to  herself,  and  what  right  had  the  minister 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.         II 

to  deny  her  this  privilege  ?  A  few  of  those  called  were 
licensed  to  preach  among  their  own  people,  but  were  not 
permitted  to  receive  holy  orders  nor  to  join  the  itineracy. 
There  were  many  other  little  vexations  to  which  they 
were  subjected. 

The  things  which  we  have  been  considering  as  causes 
leading  to  the  establishment  of  the  Afro-American 
Church  are  what  was  seen  upon  the  surface  of  this  move- 
ment. It  has  been  remarked  that  beneath  a  rough  and 
almost  useless  surface  valuable  mines  have  been  discov- 
ered. We  have  a  notion  that  beneath  this  rough  and 
unchristian  usage  to  which  the  founders  of  the  Afro- 
American  Church  were  subjected  there  was  a  divine 
purpose,  in  the  unfolding  of  which  the  race  subjected  to 
this  ill  treatment  is  destined  to  enjoy  blessings  more 
precious  than  silver  or  gold.  In  the  unfolding  of  that 
Providence  which  underlaid  the  human  meanness  which 
produced  the  general  exodus  of  the  Afro-American  race 
from  the  white  Church,  there  have  come  and  still  are 
coming  to  the  proscribed  race  benefits  so  rich,  abundant, 
and  glorious  that  the  sufferings  incident  are  not  worthy 
of  mention.  They  are  simply  the  crucible  in  which  the 
refining  process  is  carried  on,  by  which  the  race  comes 
forth  as  gold  tried  by  fire. 

History  frequently  repeats  itself.  We  see  Joseph  sold 
into  Egyptian  slavery  as  the  result  of  the  envy  of  his- 
brethren ;  that  was  God's  way  to  exalt  Joseph  and  tO' 
provide  for  a  seven  years'  famine.  We  see  the  Egyp- 
tians oppressing  Israel ;  that  was  God's  way  to  get 
Israel  out  of  Egypt  and  into  the  wilderness,  where  he 
could    form    them    into    a   people    for  himself — that   he 


12  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

might  make  them  an  elect  race — that  he  might,  through 
them,  make  himself  known  to  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Likewise  we  see  the  black  man  oppressed  and  fettered  in 
the  white  Church,  his  life  made  bitter  and  his  condition 
rendered  intolerable ;  that  was  God's  way  to  get  him 
out  of  the  white  Church  and  into  an  organization  of  his 
own,  that  he  might  have  a  field  for  development  untram- 
meled.  Had  he  remained  in  the  white  Church  he  would 
have  become  dwarfed  to  such  a  degree  that  ages  must 
have  elapsed  before  he  could  have  risen  to  any  eminence 
in  the  world. 
"^v  This  is  seen  in  those  who  have  remained  in  the  white 
Church ;  you  can  almost  at  a  glance  see  the  shadow  of 
the  white  man  resting  upon  them.  The  argument 
against  making  a  black  man  a  bishop  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  is  that  no  man  has  risen  among  them 
with  the  necessary  qualifications.  That  is  the  best  evi- 
dence which  can  be  produced  that  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  is  a  poor  soil  in  which  to  raise  black  episcopal 
timber.  It  dwarfs  them.  One  of  their  dwarfs  once  said, 
"No  Negro  ever  originated  an  idea."  Only  one  reared 
in  hopeless  bondage  to  the  idea  of  the  white  man's 
superiority  could  exhibit  such  shameful  ignorance  of  the 
excellencies  of  his  own  race.  This  was  a  man  possessing 
a  splendid  intellect  and  fine  culture ;  he  was  a  natural 
giant;  he  had  originated  scores  of  ideas  himself;  but 
he  belonged  to  the  white  Church,  and  the  shadow  of  the 
white  man  was  upon  him  so  that  he  could  not  discern 
even  his  own  brightness. 

If  such  is  the  condition  of  the  black  man  in  the  white 
Church,    notwithstanding    the  existence  of  the  African 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  1 3 

Church,  which  modifies  the  white  Church  to  a  very  large 
degree,  what  must  have  been  his  condition  if  there  had 
been  no  African  Church  ? 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  development  of  the 
black  man  has  come  almost  wholly  through  his  Church. 
This  cannot  be  said  of  any  other  race  on  the  globe.  Pos- 
sibly the  Jew  ought  to  be  excepted,  as  he  was  developed 
in  the  same  way.  There  is  so  much  likeness  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  black  man  to  that  of  the  Jew  that  we  are  im- 
pressed with  the  idea  that  God  has  some  great  purpose 
respecting  the  Negro  race  ;  whatever  that  purpose  may 
be,  we  feel  assured  that  the  Negro  Church  is,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  the  most  important  factor. 

If  there  had  been  no  Negro  Church  he  would  have 
had  no  opportunity  for  the  development  of  his  faculties, 
nor  would  he  have  had  any  platform  on  which  to  exhibit 
his  vast  possibilities.  The  Negro  Church  was  one  of  the 
powerful  instrumentalities  by  which  the  accursed  system 
of  American  slavery  was  overthrown ;  it  was  an  agency  of 
the  Underground  Railway,  by  which  communication  was 
kept  open  between  the  North  and  the  South ;  it  was  a 
magazine  from  which  antislavery  missiles  were  drawn 
to  be  hurled  against  the  ramparts  of  the  doomed  institu- 
tion ;  it  afforded  a  platform  upon  which  antislavery  agi- 
tators cried  aloud  and  spared  not.  No  mortal  can  tell 
how  much  the  Negro  Church  contributed  to  the  emanci- 
pation of  the  slave. 

But  we  regard  this  as  only  incidental,  the  main  pur- 
pose having  been  to  give  the  Negro  a  field  for  develop- 
ment. Without  the  Church  he  was  absolutely  without 
the  opportunity  to  rise  above  the  lowest  condition  in  life. 


14  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  he  was  shut 
out  from  the  social  organizations ;  he  was  likewise  shut 
out  from  the  literary  institutions,  from  the  mechanical  arts, 
and  from  every  learned  profession.  The  common  schools 
in  most  parts  of  the  country  were  closed  against  him,  and 
even  in  a  free  State  a  white  lady  was  mobbed  for  teaching 
colored  children.  We  repeat,  he  neither  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  nor  to  exhibit  his  capacity  for  develop- 
ment. He  was  shut  in  on  every  side,  like  Israel  at  the 
Red  Sea;  behind  him  was  the  slave  power,  blacker  in 
wickedness  and  more  terrible  than  the  hosts  of  Pharaoh 
which  pursued  Israel ;  on  either  side  were  the  moun- 
tains of  caste  prejudice,  and  before  him  was  the  sea  of 
difficulties  necessarily  attendant  upon  an  effort  to  form 
an  organization  of  his  own.  But  he  heard  the  voice  of 
God  saying,  "  Go  forward!"  Into  the  wilderness?  Yea, 
but  free !  He  has  found  it  a  wilderness  of  strife  within 
and  opposition  from  without.  Not  only  has  he  had  to 
contend  against  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  Satan,  but 
powerful  religious  organizations  have  thrust  their  forms 
athwart  his  way.  Nevertheless  the  God  of  Israel  has  led 
him,  not  only  forty  years,  but  for  one  hundred  years,  and 
still  leads  him. 

The  cramped  and  hampered  condition  of  the  race  in 
general  which  we  have  described  continued,  to  a  large 
extent,  up  to  the  time  of  the  Emancipation.  There  was 
no  opportunity  for  the  black  man  except  what  his  Church 
gave  him.  The  Church  was  not  only  his  pillar  and 
ground  of  truth,  but  it  was  all  he  could  lay  claim  to  in 
all  this  broad  land.  For  development  it  was  to  him 
what  the  Church  and  all  other  institutions  were  to   the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.  1 5 

rest  of  mankind.  It  was  his  common  school,  his  lyceum, 
his  college,  his  municipal  council,  his  legislative  hall, 
and  his  Congress.  Through  it  he  had  to  learn  every- 
thing he  did  learn  respecting  the  laws  and  usages  of 
society  and  the  art  of  government.  Hence  it  was  that 
there  were  comparatively  few  learned  or  distinguished 
black  men,  except  among  the  ministry.  And  the  few 
distinguished  men  who  were  not  ministers  were  in  some 
way  developed  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Church. 
If  they  were  professional  lecturers  the  Church  made 
them,  brought  them  forward,  and  gave  them  a  platform 
and  audience  and  the  opportunity  for  development. 

Fred  Douglass,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that 
the  race  has  produced,  admits  that  he  is  indebted  to  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  New  Bed- 
ford, Mass.,  for  what  he  is.  As  sexton,  class  leader, 
and  local  preacher  in  that  Church  he  got  his  inspiration, 
training,  and  send-off,  which  have  made  him  the  wonder 
of  his  time. 

It  must  be  evident  to  all  who  think  on  the  subject  that 
without  the  African  Church  at  the  period  at  which  four 
millions  of  bondmen  were  freed  they  would  have  been 
absolutely  without  trained  leaders  of  any  considerable 
intelligence.  And  what  must  have  been  the  state  of 
things?  The  white  ministers  of  the  South,  as  a  rule,  for 
the  first  five  years  after  emancipation  took  no  interest  at 
all  in  the  religious  instruction  of  the  f reedmen ;  thou- 
sands of  them  have  not  yet  conquered  their  indifference. 
We  repeat,  what  must  have  been  the  condition  of  things  if 
the  African  Church  had  not  been  prepared  to  take  hold 
of  the  mass  of  sin  and  ienorance  which  was  turned  loose 


1 6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

upon  the  nation?  The  Northern  white  Church  was  not 
prepared  for  the  work ;  white  men  were  not  suited  to 
this  work,  and  the  situation  forbade  them  undertaking 
it.  To  care  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  people  you  must 
be  of  them  and  among  them.  No  white  man  could  have 
lived  among  the  colored  people,  as  it  is  necessary  for  a 
pastor  to  do,  and  yet  retained  the  respect,  or  even  toler- 
ation, of  the  white  people  in  most  sections  of  the  South. 
The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  done  a  grand,  a 
glorious,  yea,  a  praiseworthy  work,  in  its  schools  in  the 
South.  If  it  had  confined  its  work  to  this  line  it  would 
have  been  an  unmixed  blessing  to  our  people.  But  in 
its  attempt  to  establish  churches  among  the  colored  peo- 
ple it  has  in  many  places  done  more  harm  than  good.  It 
has,  in  many  places,  hindered  us  from  doing  what  it  could 
not  do  ;  hence  in  such  instances  nothing  worth  naming  has 
been  done  where  much  might  have  been  accomplished. 

If  that  Church  had  left  the  Church  work  among  the  col- 
ored people  to  the  African  Church,  and  spent  one  half 
the  money  through  them  that  it  has  spent  in  trying  to 
establish  its  own  Church  among  the  colored  people,  it 
would  have  had  five  times  as  much  to  show  as  the  result 
of  the  output,  and  its  work  among  the  white  people  of  the 
South  would  have  been  five  times  as  great;  and  possibly 
there  would  have  been  by  this  time  a  reunion  between 
the  Northern  and  Southern  Churches.  By  its  well-meant 
but  mistaken  policy  it  has  hindered  both  itself  and  us. 

But  I  presume  that  an  attempt  on  our  part  to  show 
that  Church  the  state  of  things  as  we  see  it  would  be  a 
waste  of  time.  Its  policy  has  always  been  to  retain  the 
colored  people,  and  its  agents  have  not  always  been  very 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  1 7 

scrupulous  as  to  the  means  employed,  as  we  may  have 
occasion  to  note. 

The  African  Church  is  the  source  from  which  the 
freedman  has  received  his  truest  and  most  efficient  lead- 
ers. The  idea  of  a  Church  of  his  own,  for  the  support 
of  which  he  was  wholly  responsible,  gave  the  freedman 
an  object  lesson  on  the  importance  of  self-reliance  which 
he  could  not  by  any  other  means  have  learned  so  soon. 
The  agents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  came  to 
the  freedmen  and  said  to  them :  ' '  Come  to  the  old 
mother  Church,  and  she  will  build  your  churches  for  you 
and  she  will  support  your  ministers.  If  you  go  to  Bethel 
or  Zion  you  will  be  taxed  to  death  to  support  the  connec- 
tional  institutions.  Come  with  us  and  we  will  give  you 
all  you  need."  Many  were  thus  persuaded  to  join  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  churches  planted  by 
this  means  many  years  ago  are  not  self-sustaining  to-day. 
The  people  got  used  to  being  carried,  and  they  have  not 
learned  to  walk  yet.  Many  of  these  churches  are  at  a 
standstill,  while  African  churches  planted  alongside  of 
them,  without  any  outside  help,  are  growing  and  flour- 
ishing. It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  harm  that  has 
been  done  the  freedmen  by  those  who,  with  zeal  minus 
judgment,  have  pursued  a  course  which  has  rendered 
many  of  our  people  indifferent  to  the  importance  of  sup- 
porting their  own  institutions.  The  necessity  of  the  sit- 
uation compelled  the  African  ministers  to  urge  upon  the 
people  the  importance  of  supporting  the  Church  and  its 
institutions ;  and  the  good  effect  is  seen  in  the  vast  num- 
ber of  churches  they  have  erected,  and  also  in  a  few  flour- 
ishing institutions  of  learning. 


1 8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

There  was  a  complaint  in  the  South  for  a  time  that 
the  African  ministers  were  generally  politicians.  This 
complaint  originated  in  two  causes :  i .  The  suspicion  on 
the  part  of  politicians  that  black  ministers  would  use 
their  influence  with  their  congregations  in  favor  of  the 
Republican  Party.  But  there  are  many  things  about  the 
freedmen  which  are  not  known  to  any  except  those  who 
have  been  closely  associated  with  them  through  all  these 
years ;  and  one  of  these  things  is  the  freedmen's  intui- 
tive knowledge  of  the  political  situation.  They  needed 
no  persuasion  from  their  leaders  to  induce  them  to  vote 
for  the  party  of  liberal  ideas ;  they  were  often  more 
radical,  because  less  thoughtful,  than  their  leaders.  And 
what  was  known  as  the  white  man's  party  took  no  great 
pains  to  hide  from  the  black  man  its  purpose  to  limit,  at 
least,  his  political  privileges.  The  history  of  the  Negro- 
hating  party  for  twenty-five  years  preceding  the  emanci- 
pation was  very  much  better  understood  by  the  black 
people  than  the  white  people  supposed.  Its  record  has 
been  the  support  of  every  measure  that  was  passed  to 
the  injury  of  the  black  man. 

Reading  the  articles  published  in  the  Christian  Index 
for  four  or  five  years  from  about  the  year  1870,  one  natu- 
rally got  the  impression  that  the  purpose  of  establishing 
the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  to  control 
the  colored  people  in  politics ;  but  if  such  was  the  pur- 
pose it  was  a  lamentable  failure.  In  many  places,  es- 
pecially in  North  Carolina,  we  have  known  instances  in 
which  the  leaders  in  that  Church  had  to  vote  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  to  prevent  their  people  from  leaving  them. 
There  is  no  greater  mistake  than  to  suppose  that  the  col- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  1 9 

ored  ministers,  as  a  rule,  have  dabbled  largely  in  politics; 
within  the  range  of  our  observation  not  one  in  twenty 
have  been  active  politicians. 

2.  The  second  cause  for  this  complaint  was  that  in 
the  state  of  things  already  narrated,  in  the  want  of  op- 
portunity for  development,  the  few  colored  ministers 
who  came  South  during  or  soon  after  the  war  were  the 
only  well-informed  leaders  the  people  had,  and,  whatever 
their  inclination,  they  were,  at  that  early  period,  com- 
pelled at  times  to  accept  positions  as  representatives  to 
prevent  the  people  from  being  misrepresented  by  men 
too  ignorant  to  do  them  credit.  Here,  again,  we  see  the 
importance  of  the  African  Church  and  the  gracious  re- 
sults of  a  superintending  and  overruling  Providence,  in 
that  it  was  the  means  of  preparing  men  for  that  emer- 
gency. Far  better  would  it  have  been  for  the  freedmen, 
and  the  nation  as  well,  if  there  had  been  many  more 
upright  and  intelligent  leaders  at  that  period.  But  the 
Afro- American  Church,  the  only  instrumentality  for  the 
development  of  this  race,  had  done  what  it  could  during 
the  dark  period  in  the  God-appointed  work  of  develop- 
ing men  for  the  time. 

The  wonders  they  have  accomplished  in  building  up 
the  thousands  of  churches  throughout  the  South,  without 
any  means  except  what  they  could  collect  from  the  freed- 
men themselves,  attests  their  devotion  and  sagacity,  as 
also  the  presence  of  the  Lord  among  them  and  his 
gracious  favor  toward  them.  The  Negro  Church  to-day, 
in  its  several  denominations,  has  millions  of  souls  under 
its  care,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  any  other  race  has  so  large 
a  proportion  of  church-going  people.    Its  institutions  are 


20  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

now  preparing  men  and  women  to  go  into  the  dark 
parts  of  the  world,  bearing  the  lamp  of  Gospel  light  to 
the  millions  yet  in  darkness. 

While,  therefore,  on  the  surface  of  this  subject  we  see 
the  black  brother  driven  out  from  the  white  Church  by  a 
wicked  prejudice,  underlying  this  we  see  the  wisdom  of 
a  superintending  and  overruling  Providence,  molding, 
fashioning,  and  moving,  and  thus  preparing  a  race  for 
its  own  development,  and  at  the  same  time  making  the 
wrath  of  men  to  praise  him. 

In  the  white  Church  the  black  man  was  deprived  of 
the  privilege  of  exercising  his  spiritual  gifts ;  coming 
out,  he  got  his  pulpit,  in  which  he  has  developed  into  a 
workman  of  whom  none  need  be  ashamed ;  a  divider  of 
truth,  who  giveth  to  each  one  his  portion  in  due  season. 
To  reach  the  top  the  black  man  must  go  up  on  his  own 
plane,  must  climb  his  own  ladder.  The  white  man 
will  never  step  aside  to  make  room  for  him.  We  need 
hardly  state  that  the  feeling  of  superiority  is  inherent 
in  the  white  race  in  this  country.  No  white  man  will 
charge  us  with  a  misstatement  in  this,  for  he  boasts 
of  his  superiority;  we  do  not  admit  it;  we  deny  it, 
but  he  claims  it.  With  such  feelings  and  such  a  claim 
no  degree  of  merit  on  the  black  man's  part  could  en- 
title him  to  the  first  position  in  the  white  man's  esti- 
mation. But  while  white  men  may  not  feel  it  their 
duty  to  assist  in  the  exaltation  of  one  whom  they  look 
upon  as  belonging  to  an  inferior  race,  yet  when  a  black 
man,  on  his  own  merit,  and  upon  his  own  ladder,  has 
reached  the  first  position,  there  are  many  white  men 
who    will  grasp  his  hand   in  recognition,    and  even   in 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         2  I 

congratulation,  because  they  do  not  have  to  stoop  to  take 
his  hand. 

Hence  it  came  to  pass  at  the  Centennial  Conference  of 
Methodists  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  in  1885,  black  bishops 
presided  in  common  with  others.  But  if  there  had  been 
no  black  bishops  there  would  have  been  no  black  men 
in  the  position  to  preside  over  that  body;  and  if  there 
had  been  no  African  Church  there  would  have  been  no 
black  bishops.  A  race  is  judged  by  its  distinguished 
men,  but  where  there  is  no  opportunity  for  distinction  it 
is  impossible  to  judge  a  race  by  that  method.  This  was 
for  a  long  time  the  black  man's  great  difficulty,  and  is 
to  some  extent  yet.  When  the  opportunity  has  been 
afforded  he  has  made  his  mark ;  but  his  enemies  have 
determined  that  his  opportunity  shall  be  minimized  to 
the  last  possible  degree,  and  they  have  to  a  great  extent 
been  able  to  stop  his  progress.  But  the  African  Church 
has  set  before  him  an  open  door  which  no  man  can  shut ; 
has  opened  for  him  an  avenue  which  no  man  can  close, 
and  has  put  him  on  a  line  of  march  for  the  front  by 
which  he  may,  if  he  will,  reach  the  acme  of  human  use- 
fulness, and  those  are  only  truly  great  who  are  truly 
useful. 

Dr.  J.  C.  Price,  without  any  effort  on  his  own  part  or  that 
of  his  associates,  was  offered  an  appointment  to  represent 
this  government  at  a  foreign  court.  And  why?  Because 
the  African  Church  had  raised  him  up  and  had  given 
him  the  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself.  Black  bish- 
ops have  been  invited  to  fill  pulpits  in  white  churches 
in  sections  where  the  same  courtesy  has  not  been  ex- 
tended to   other  ministers  of  equal  ability.     The  differ- 


22  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ence  shown  is  because  of  the  distinction.  The  exalted 
position  the  bishop  holds  in  his  own  Church — a  recog- 
nized portion  of  the  holy  catholic  Church — opens  the 
way  for  him.  We  have  heard  white  men  say  that  they 
went  to  hear  black  men  for  the  purpose  of  criticising, 
and  we  think  it  altogether  fair  that  the  ability  of  a  race 
should  be  tested ;  but  where  there  is  no  opportunity  for 
development  and  no  platform  for  the  exhibition  of  ca- 
pacity the  possibilities  of  a  race  can  never  be  known. 
Such  for  a  long  time  was  the  condition  of  the  black  man 
in  this  country,  and  such  it  would  have  remained  if  God 
had  not  come  to  his  help  by  the  formation  of  the  African 
Church.  That  the  Negro  has  military  genius  is  evident 
from  the  great  conquerors  the  race  has  produced ;  but 
blinded  by  prejudice,  and,  we  might  add,  largely  on 
account  of  shameful  ignorance,  the  present  generation 
reads  of  those  ancient  black  heroes  without  a  thought  of 
their  having  been  black.  That  the  black  race  possesses 
statesmanship  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  it  ruled  the  world 
for  many  hundreds  of  years ;  but  the  present  generation  has 
passed  over  this  fact  without  noticing  it.  We  might  also 
speak  of  his  legal  lore,  of  his  skill  in  physics,  and  of  his 
diplomatic  ability ;  but  you  might  as  well  make  signs  to 
the  blind  as  to  attempt  to  convince  this  generation  of  the 
Negro's  capacity  by  pointing  to  what  he  has  been.  It 
must  be  demonstrated  by  the  exhibition  of  what  the  race 
can  achieve  now. 

Thank  God,  who  has  opened  the  way  by  which  he  has 
given  the  oppressed  race  the  Church,  the  best  thing  he  has 
on  earth,  as  a  field  for  development,  and  also  as  a  means 
for  the  exhibition  of  his  capacity  for  development.     Not 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.         23 

only  has  this  instrumentality  opened  the  way  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  race  in  a  material  and  intellectual  sense, 
but  the  salvation  of  souls  is  also  involved. 

The  black  man  is  much  more  sensitive  to  insult  than 
he  is  supposed  to  be ;  there  are  thousands,  yea,  tens  of 
thousands,  of  black  men  who  would  not  attend  church  at 
all  if  they  had  to  endure  proscription.  If  limited  to  the 
gallery  or  certain  back  seats  they  would  refuse  to  accept 
the  means  of  grace  thus  offered,  and  consequently  perish 
in  their  sins.  This  is  a  fearful  thought,  but  such  would 
have  been  the  end  of  thousands  now  safe  in  heaven  had 
there  been  no  African  Church.  Besides  this,  with  the 
present  state  of  feeling  the  presence  of  black  people  in 
the  white  church  frequently  puts  many  white  people  out 
of  frame  for  worship.  In  the  city  of  Portland,  State  of 
Oregon,  we  found  as  little  race  prejudice  as  in  any  place  in 
this  country.  We  could  have  had  our  choice  of  any  unoc- 
cupied rooms  at  hotels,  could  have  lunched  at  any  of  the 
restaurants,  or  gone  at  will  wherever  a  door  was  open  for 
the  public.  And  yet  even  there  a  lady  told  us  of  an 
incident  happening  to  herself  which  illustrates  the  point 
we  make.  She  was  a  Baptist,  but  there  was  no  colored 
church  in  Portland  except  the  Zion  Methodist.  She 
therefore,  to  be  with  her  own  people,  attended  the  Zion 
Church  generally ;  but  to  receive  the  sacrament  among 
people  of  her  own  faith  she  retained  her  membership  in 
the  white  Baptist  church  and  regularly  attended  the 
communion  there.  On  one  Sabbath  she  went  early  and 
took  a  seat  on  a  bench  upon  which  no  one  was  sitting. 
Pretty  soon  a  gentleman  entered  who  was  but  little 
lighter  than  herself  (for  she  was  nearly  white).     He  was 


24  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

about  to  take  a  seat  beside  her,  but  on  observing  who  she 
was  he  walked  out  into  the  aisle  and  found  a  seat  else- 
where. The  lady  felt  very  unpleasant  over  it ;  several 
persons  noticed  it,  and  they  felt  badly.  Possibly  there 
were  a  dozen  or  more  persons  put  out  of  the  frame  for 
worshiping  the  Lord  during  that  service.  The  African 
Church,  to  a  large  extent,  prevents  such  scenes  in  God's 
house.  The  Negro  Church  is  the  rock  of  hope  for  the 
race ;  it  gives  it  a  distinguishing  place  in  the  divine  plan 
for  the  evangelization  of  the  world.  In  the  holy  crusade 
by  which  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  to  be  brought  to 
Christ  the  African  Church  forms  one  of  the  three  grand 
divisions  of  Emanuel's  army.  It  is  placed  upon  the  left 
to  withstand  the  right  wing  of  the  opposing  forces,  the 
host  of  darkness.  The  fiery  ordeal  through  which  it 
has  already  passed  has  prepared  it  for  this  important 
position. 

Formalism  and  skepticism  have  ever  been  among  the 
most  powerful  oppositions  with  which  genuine  Christian- 
ity has  had  to  contend ;  but  the  spirituality  of  the  black 
man  makes  him  the  natural  opponent  of  formalism ;  his 
religion  becomes  a  part  of  him.  His  soul  is  filled  with 
it.  It  sparkles  out  of  his  eyes,  it  bursts  forth  from  his 
mouth,  and  his  hands  and  feet  declare  the  rapture  of  his 
heart.  You  seldom  see  a  cold  and  lifeless  Negro  Church. 
Neither  is  he  affected  with  skepticism.  The  holy  fire  is 
kept  so  continually  alive  on  the  altar  that  both  formal- 
ism and  skepticism  are  consumed.  Ever  since  Simon 
the  Ethiopian  bore  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  Negro,  when- 
ever sufficiently  enlightened,  has  stood  by  it. 

In  Egypt,  where  Christians  have  been  oppressed  for 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         25 

ages,  and  Christianity  has  been  almost  crushed  out,  the 
Copts,  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  or  Miz- 
raimites,  still  cling  to  the  cross,  even  in  that  dark  land. 
While  skepticism,  adventism,  universalism,  annihila- 
tionism,  probationism,  and  many  other  pernicious  isms 
are  gaining  ground  among  the  white  people  the  masses 
of  black  Christians  are  still  earnestly  contending  for  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints. 

It  was  probably  the  purpose  of  Jehovah  in  maintaining 
the  identity  of  the  race  in  this  country,  and  forming  the 
African  Church,  to  make  it  a  stronghold  of  pure  and  un- 
defiled  religion.  A  single  black  preacher  is  said  to  have 
kindled  the  fires  of  Methodism  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C, 
about  a  hundred  years  ago,  which  burned  throughout 
that  State  and  into  the  adjoining  State  of  South  Carolina. 
He  first  began  to  preach  among  his  own  race  and  formed 
a  church.  Finally,  out  of  curiosity,  the  white  people 
began  to  attend  his  meetings,  and  many  of  them  were 
converted,  which  ultimately  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
many  churches  in  that  section.  His  spirit  still  lives  in 
Fayetteville,  and  that  vicinity  has  produced  more  preach- 
ers than  any  other  seven  towns  of  its  size  within  our 
knowledge.  Not  less  than  fifty  preachers  have  started 
out  from  that  section  in  the  last  twenty-five  years; 
among  the  number  are  three  bishops,  Lomax  and  Harris, 
of  Zion  Church,  and  Beebe,  of  the  Colored  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  There  is  at  least  one  white  preacher 
who  takes  pleasure  in  telling  that  his  father,  who  was 
also  a  preacher,  was  converted  through  the  labors  of 
Father  Evans,  the  pioneer  black  preacher.  Bishop  Ca- 
pers speaks  of  him  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men 


26  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

he  ever  knew.  The  Annual  Conference  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  South,  whenever  it  meets  in  Fay- 
ette ville,  occupies  some  time  in  eulogies  of  Father 
Evans,  and  the  speakers  refer  to  him  as  the  Father  of 
Methodism  in  North  Carolina.  If  such  was  the  abun- 
dant yield  of  that  root  out  of  dry  ground,  what  may  we 
not  expect  as  the  results  of  the  labors  of  the  cultured 
sons  and  daughters  of  Ham  who  are  now  being  prepared 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Afro-American 
Church  to  go  forth  bearing  the  unadulterated  word,  free 
from  all  pernicious  isms? 

The  Church  having  opened  the  way  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  black  man,  other  means  have  followed,  and 
still  others  will  follow,  until  his  opportunities  are  equal 
to  those  of  any  other  race  and  his  rights  and  excellen- 
cies are  acknowledged  by  all.  Possibly  there  may  then 
be  a  union  of  all  who  are  of  the  same  faith  and  order, 
without  race  distinctions.  The  African  Church  will 
then  have  accomplished  its  special  work — not  till  then. 
Till  then  there  must  be  no  faltering,  no  looking  back  to 
the  fleshpots  of  Egypt;  every  branch  of  the  African 
Church  must  use  all  the  means  within  its  reach,  to  the 
end  that  the  race  may  stand  in  the  front  ranks  of  civil 
and  religious  liberty. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         2J 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NEGRO  RACE. 

Since  we  have  asserted  the  ancient  greatness  of  the 
Negro  race,  and  since  assertion  is  lame  without  proof, 
a  chapter  here  on  this  subject  may  not  be  out  of  place. 
It  is  the  impression  with  many  that  the  Negro  has  no 
history  to  which  he  can  point  with  pride.  There  could 
be  no  greater  mistake  than  this.  If  it  had  been  in  the 
power  of  modern  historians  of  the  Caucasian  race  to  rob 
him  of  his  history  it  would  have  been  done.  But  the 
Holy  Bible  has  stood  as  an  everlasting  rock  in  the  black 
man's  defense.  God  himself  has  determined  that  the 
black  man  shall  not  be  robbed  of  his  record  which  he 
has  made  during  the  ages.  And  here  again  we  acknowl- 
edge with  humility  and  thanksgiving  our  great  obliga- 
tion to  God  for  his  goodness  toward  the  race.  At  every 
step  in  this  investigation  we  see  plainly  the  hand  divine 
interposed  on  our  behalf ;  and  the  more  we  investigate 
the  subject  the  more  deeply  do  we  feel  the  obligation  the 
race  is  under  to  love,  fear,  and  serve  that  God  who  has 
so  carefully  watched  over  our  destiny. 

The  first  and  most  illustrious  of  earth's  historians  has 
left  on  record  statements  which  set  forth  the  fact  beyond 
reasonable  doubt  that  an  ancestor  of  the  Negro  race  was 
the  first  of  earth's  great  monarchs,  and  that  that  race 
ruled  the  world  for  more  than  a  thousand  years ;  and  the 
statements  of  Moses  are  confirmed  by  the  testimonies  of 


2  8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  earliest  secular  historians  whose  writings  have  come 
down  to  our  time.  Ethiopia  and  Egypt  were  first 
among  the  early  monarchies,  and  these  countries  were 
peopled  by  the  descendants  of  Ham,  through  Cush  and 
Mizraim,  and  were  governed  by  the  same  for  hundreds 
of  years. 

Palestine  was  peopled  by  Canaan,  the  younger  son  of 
Ham,  upon  whom  the  curse  was  pronounced,  and,  not- 
withstanding the  curse,  his  posterity  ruled  that  land  for 
more  than  seven  hundred  years.  They  were  in  it  when 
the  promise  of  it  was  made  to  Abraham,  and  four  hun- 
dred years  later,  when  Israel  came  out  of  Egypt,  they 
were  still  in  full  possession  of  it.  And  although  the 
land  was  promised  to  Israel,  yet  two  tribes,  the  Jebusites 
and  Sidonians,*  resisted  the  attacks  of  Israel  for  more 
than  four  hundred  years  after  they  entered  upon  their 
promised  possessions.  Neither  Joshua  nor  the  judges 
of  Israel  could  drive  them  out ;  not  until  David  became 
king  were  the  Jebusites  driven  out  from  the  stronghold 
of  Zion.  It  was  from  this  ancient  seat  of  the  Jebusites, 
also  called  Salem,  the  seat  of  royalty  and  power,  that 
Melchizedek,  the  most  illustrious  king,  priest,  and 
prophet  of  that  race,  came  forth  to  bless  Abraham,  as 
seen  in  Gen.  xiv,  18,  19.  There  have  been  many  wild 
notions  respecting  this  personage,  for  which  there  is  no 
good  reason.     As  Dr.  Barnes  says  : 

"  The  account  of  this  man  in  Genesis  is  as  simple  an  historical  record  as 
any  other  in  the  Bible.  In  that  account  there  is  no  difficulty  whatever.  It 
is  said  simply  that  when  Abraham  was  returning  from  a  successful  military 
expedition  this  man,  who,  it  seems,  was  well  known,f  and  who  was  respect- 
ed as  a  priest  of  God  Most  High,  came  out  to  express  his  approbation  of 

*  The  Sidonians  were  never  driven  out  by  the  Israelites. 
"     +  So  well  known  that  no  particular  account  of  him  was  deemed  necessary. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         29 

what  he  had  done  and  to  refresh  him  with  bread  and  wine.  As  a  tribute 
of  gratitude  to  him  and  a  thank  offering  to  God,  Abraham  gave  him  a 
tenth  part  of  the  spoils  which  he  had  taken. 

"  Such  an  occurrence  was  by  no  means  improbable;  nor  would  it  have  been 
attended  with  any  special  difficulty  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  use  which 
the  apostle  makes  of  it  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Yet  on  no  subject 
has  there  been  a  greater  variety  of  opinions  than-  in  regard  to  this  man. 
The  bare  recital  of  the  opinions  would  fill  a  volume.  But  in  a  case  which 
seems  to  be  plain  from  the  Scripture  narrative  it  is  not  necessary  even  to 
enumerate  these  opinions.  They  only  serve  to  show  how  easy  it  is  for  men 
to  mystify  a  clear  statement  of  history,  and  how  fond  they  are  of  finding 
what  is  mysterious  and  marvelous  in  the  plainest  narrative  of  facts. 

"  That  he  was  Shem,  as  the  Jews  supposed,*  or  that  he  was  the  Son  of 
God  himself,  as  many  Christian  expositors  have  maintained,  there  is  not 
the  slightest  evidence.  That  the  latter  opinion  is  false  is  perfectly  clear ; 
for  if  he  was  the  Son  of  God  with  what  propriety  could  the  apostle  say 
that  he  '  was  made  like  the  Son  of  God ' — that  is,  like  himself ;  or  that 
Christ  was  constituted  a  priest  '  after  the  order  of  Melchizedek  ' — that  is, 
that  he  was  a  type  of  himself.  The  most  simple  and  probable  opinion  is 
that  given  by  Josephus  :  that  he  was  a  pious  Canaanitish  prince,  a  person 
eminently  endowed  by  God,  who  acted  as  the  priest  of  his  people.  That 
he  combined  within  himself  the  offices  of  priest  and  king  furnished  to  the 
apostle  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  offices  sustained  by  the  Redeemer,  as 
he  was,  in  this  respect,  perhaps  the  only  one  whose  history  is  recorded  in 
the  Old  Testament  who  would  furnish  such  an  illustration.  That  his  gen- 
ealogy was  not  recorded,  while  that  of  every  other  priest  mentioned  was 
carefully  traced  and  preserved,  furnished  another  striking  illustration.!  In 
this  respect,  like  the  Son  of  God,  he  stood  alone ;  he  was  not  in  the  line  of 
priests ;  he  was  preceded  by  no  one  in  the  sacerdotal  office,  nor  was  he 
followed  by  any.  That  he  was  superior  to  Abraham  and  consequently  to 
all  who  descended  from  Abraham  ;  that  a  tribute  was  rendered  to  him  by 
the  great  ancestor  of  the  fraternity  of  Jewish  priests,  was  also  an  illustra- 
tion which  suited  the  purpose  of  Paul." — Dr.  Albert  Barnes,  "Notes  on 
Hebrews,"  chap.  vii. 

We  have  copied  so  much  from  Dr.  Barnes's  Commen- 
tary for  two  reasons:  1.  Because  his  opinion  agrees  with 
what  appeared  to  us  to  be  the  natural  conclusion  when  we 

*That  is,  some  of  the  Jews,  not  all ;  for  their  ablest  historian,  Josephus, 
as  Dr.  Barnes  remarks,  states  that  he  was  a  pious  Canaanite. 

tWhat  Dr.  Barnes  here  mentions  is  evidently  what  the  apostle  means  by 
his  being  without  father,  etc.     His  genealogy  was  not  recorded. 


30  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

first  read  the  account  of  Melchizedek  in  Josephus,  more 
than  thirty  years  ago.  2.  Because  we  wished  to  show 
that  in  the  opinion  we  have  advanced  we  are  supported  by 
one  of  the  ablest  Bible  expounders  of  our  time.  Barnes 
is  a  standard  author ;  his  Commentaries  have  been  adopted 
by, the  Presbyterian  Board.  Those  who  wish  to  see  what 
further  he  has  to  say  can  consult  his  notes  on  Heb.  vii, 
also  his  notes  on  Psalm  ex,  4.  It  seems  impossible  to 
reach  any  other  conclusion  than  that  Melchizedek  was 
king  of  the  Jebusites ;  they  took  possession  of  that  land 
when  the  posterity  of  Noah  was  dispersed  from  Babel. 
At  the  time  that  Abraham  met  Melchizedek  they  had 
been  in  possession  of  it  for  nearly  three  hundred  and  fifty 
years,  and  they  remained  in  possession  of  it  for  eight 
hundred  years  more. 

Salem,  the  seat  of  government,  was  the  same  which 
was  also  called  Jerusalem.  Josephus  positively  states 
this,  and  Dr.  Barnes  says  it  is  the  almost  universal  opin- 
ion. The  change,  it  is  generally  agreed,  comes  from  the 
name  of  the  inhabitants — the  Jebusites — Jebus  being 
changed  to  Jerus,  and  that  to  Jerusalem.  In  Psalm 
lxxvi,  1,2,  Jerusalem  is  called  Salem:  "  In  Judah  is  God 
known  :  his  name  is  great  in  Israel.  In  Salem  also  is  his 
tabernacle,  and  his  dwelling  place  in  Zion." 

Rahab  and  Tamar  were  both  Canaanites,  and  both, 
also,  the  ancestors  of  the  world's  Redeemer.  It  is  not 
quite  certain  that  the  Canaanites  were  black ;  but  there 
can  be  no  doubt,  that  they  descended  from  Ham,  the 
father  of  the  black  race;  and  "Cussed  be  Canaan"  is 
a  favorite  text  with  those  who  delight  in  the  idea  of 
Negro  inferiority.     One    may   remark   that   some  have 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  3 1 

claimed  that  the  curse  upon  Canaan  extended  to  the 
whole  race  of  Ham ;  upon  what  grounds  this  claim 
is  set  up  we  have  never  been  able  to  discover  except 
the  desire  to  have  it  so.  The  natural  conclusion,  it 
seems  to  us,  if  we  want  to  make  anything-  more  of  it 
than  the  simple  historical  statement  that  Noah  cursed 
his  grandson  for  his  son's  misconduct,  would  be  that 
Noah  was  led  to  take  this  plan  to  avoid  the  idea  that  the 
rest  of  Ham's  posterity  was  affected  by  the  curse.  In 
naming  the  younger  son  we  would  naturally  get  the  idea 
that  the  curse  was  to  fall  upon  the  smaller  portion  of 
Ham's  race.  To  our  mind  this  was  a  prediction  which 
was  fulfilled  when  Joshua  led  Israel  into  the  promised 
land,  "Servant  of  servants  shall  he  be."  To  whatever 
extent  the  Canaanites  served  the  Israelites,  who  them- 
selves had  just  come  from  servitude,  this  prediction  was 
fulfilled,  and  that  was  to  no  very  great  extent.  They 
were  driven  out  of  the  land  and  exterminated  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  but  they  were  not  made  slaves  in  any 
considerable  numbers. 

The  promise  of  God  was  not  that  Israel  should  make 
slaves  of  them — he  has  never  sanctioned  slavery — but 
his  promise  was  to  drive  them  out,  not  all  at  once,  but 
little  by  little.  ' '  I  will  send  the  hornet  before  thee,  which 
shall  drive  out  the  Hivite,  the  Canaanite,  and  the  Hittite, 
from  before  thee.  I  will  not  drive  them  out  from  before 
thee  in  one  year ;  lest  the  land  become  desolate,  and  the 
beast  of  the  field  multiply  against  thee.  By  little  and 
little  I  will  drive  them  out  from  before  thee.  .  .  .  Thou 
shalt  make  no  covenant  with  them,  nor  with  their  gods. 
They  shall  not  dwell  in  thy  land,  lest  they  make  thee  sin 


32  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

against  me :  for  if  thou  serve  their  gods,  it  will  surely  be 
a  snare  unto  thee."     See  Exod.  xxiii,  28-33. 

And  yet  Israel  did  make  a  covenant  with  them,  and 
in  that  the  prophecy  of  Noah  was  fulfilled.  Israel  did 
serve  their  gods,  and  they  were  ensnared,  and  therefore 
were  never  able  to  drive  out  all  the  Canaanites.  Re- 
specting the  covenant  that  Israel  made  with  the  Ca- 
naanites (see  Josh,  ix),  the  inhabitants  of  Gibeon  came 
to  Joshua  and  made  him  believe  that  they  lived  in 
a  country  far  from  him,  and  he  made  a  covenant  with 
them  by  which  the  princes  of  the  Israelites  agreed  to 
spare  their  lives,  and  they  agreed  to  be  hewers  of  wood 
and  drawers  of  water  for  Israel ;  and  thus  of  their  own 
volition  they  became  the  servants  of  a  people  who  had 
just  come  from  bondage.  And  thus  was  fulfilled  the 
prophecy  of  Noah,  "  Servant  of  servants  shall  he  be,"  etc. 

This,  however,  was  a  very  small  portion  of  Canaan's 
race ;  enough,  indeed,  to  fulfill  the  prophecy,  but  not 
enough  to  make  the  noise  about  that  Negro  haters  have 
been  making  for  the  last  two  or  three  hundred  years. 

God  promised  to  drive  out  the  Canaanites,  that  Israel 
might  inhabit  the  land  free  from  the  snares  of  idolatry, 
but  God's  promise  was  conditional.  To  avoid  the  dan- 
gerous increase  of  wild  beasts  a  portion  of  the  Canaanites 
were  permitted  to  remain  until  Israel  had  sufficiently 
increased  to  populate  the  land.  During  this  period  of 
joint  occupancy  the  Israelites  were  required  to  keep  them- 
selves from  idolatry  and  from  all  entangling  alliances 
with  the  Canaanites.  The  Israelites  failed  in  both  these 
requirements ;  they  worshiped  the  idols  and  married 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Canaanites.      Hence  God 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         33 

did  not  drive  out  all  of  the  Canaanites,  and  Israel  could 
not  drive  them  out.  "And  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was 
hot  against  Israel ;  and  he  said,  Because  that  this  people 
hath  transgressed  my  covenant  which  I  commanded  their 
fathers,  and  have  not  hearkened  unto  my  voice ;  I  also 
will  not  henceforth  drive  out  any  from  before  them  of 
the  nations  which  Joshua  left  when  he  died  "  (Judg.  ii, 
20,  21). 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  the  Jebusites 
held  their  stronghold  till  David  came  to  the  throne  ;  their 
dislodgment  was  then  necessary  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  divine  purpose ;  but  the  Sidonians,  descendants  of 
the  elder  son  of  Canaan,  including  the  Tyrians,  were 
never  driven  out  by  the  Israelites.  They,  with  their 
kindred,  the  Carthaginians,  were  the  most  powerful 
maritime  nations  of  their  time.  The  Philistines,  who 
gave  Israel  more  trouble  than  any  other  of  the  nations 
in  that  land,  were  the  descendants  of  Ham  through 
Mizraim. 

As  an  evidence  of  the  strength  and  valor  of  the  nations 
with  which  Israel  had  to  contend  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
we  have  the  fact  that,  during  the  four  hundred  years  in 
which  the  judges  ruled,  Israel  was  in  bondage  more  than 
seventy  years  to  those  nations.  It  was  not  weakness 
nor  the  want  of  courage  on  the  part  of  the  Canaanites, 
nor  the  superiority  of  the  Israelites,  which  gave  Israel  a 
habitation  in  that  land ;  but  God  had  a  purpose  in  the 
interest  of  humanity,  and  the  idolatry  of  the  Canaanites 
rendered  them  suitable  objects  upon  which  to  operate  in 
the  carrying  out  of  that  purpose. 

Historians  tell  a  story  of  the  Tyrians  and  Carthaginians 


34  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

which  is  most  creditable  to  both :  ' '  When  Alexander 
was  besieging  Tyre  the  Tyrians  took  that  which  they 
valued  most  highly,  their  wives  and  little  children,  and 
sent  them  to  Carthage,  and  although  the  Carthaginians 
were  engaged  in  war  they  received  them  and  succored 
them  with  parental  care."  Caucasian  civilization  can 
point  to  nothing  that  exceeds  this  gallantry  on  the  one 
side  and  generosity  on  the  other.  Considering  the 
period  at  which  this  occurred  it  indicates  a  marvelous 
degree  of  advancement  in  the  knowledge  of  what  is  due 
to  the  family. 

Carthage  has  contributed  to  the  honor  of  the  Negro 
race  not  only  in  this,  but  also  in  producing  one  of  the 
most  renowned  warriors  that  has  ever  appeared  upon  a 
field  of  battle.  Of  course  we  refer  to  Hannibal ;  but  be- 
sides him  there  was  another,  less  renowned,  it  is  true, 
but  greater  in  that  he  was  both  statesman  and  warrior. 
We  refer  to  Hamilcar,  the  father  of  Hannibal.  He  took 
Hannibal  at  nine  years  of  age  and  taught  him  the  art  of 
war.  He  had  the  ability  to  unite  the  forces  for  victory ; 
the  lack  of  this  was  Hannibal's  misfortune  and  the  ruin 
of  Carthage.  But  in  boldness,  in  courage,  and  in  the 
splendid  management  of  his  forces  Hannibal  has  had  no 
superior  and  but  few  equals  since  man  began  to  fight. 

Hannibal  also  possessed  some  ability  as  a  statesman. 
History  informs  us  that  upon  one  occasion  by  a  persua- 
sive speech  he  brought  the  Carthaginian  senate  to  a 
unanimous  agreement  on  an  important  matter  on  which 
there  had  been  a  disagreement.  He  feared  that  if  the 
senate  was  not  unanimous  there  would  be  dissensions 
among  the  people. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         35 

Carthage  also  gave  to  the  world  in  the  persons  of  St. 
Augustine  and  St.  Cyprian  two  of  the  ablest  ministers 
of  which  the  Christian  Church  can  boast.  The  simple 
mention  of  these  names  is  all  that  any  man  at  all  ac- 
quainted with  Church  history  needs.  That  the  Phoeni- 
cians, who  were  the  founders  of  Carthage  in  union  with 
original  Africans,  were  the  descendants  of  Canaan,  there 
ought  to  be  no  question  ;  but  since  everything  honorable 
to  the  Negro  race  is  questioned  we  will  simply  give  the 
testimony  of  Rollin.*  He  says:  "The  Canaanites  are 
certainly  the  same  people  who  are  called,  almost  always, 
Phoenicians  by  the  Greeks,  for  which  name  no  reason  can 
be  given,  any  more  than  the  oblivion  of  the  true  one." 
Thus  it  is  seen  that  up  to  Rollin's  time  there  was  no  ques- 
tion as  to  the  fact  that  the  Phoenicians  were  Canaanites. 
Rollin  did  not  know  why  this,  instead  of  the  true  name, 
was  given ;  neither  do  we  know ;  but  we  may  easily  con- 
jecture that,  since  it  was  the  Greeks  that  gave  this  name 
instead  of  the  true  one,  it  may  have  been  their  purpose 
to  hide  the  fact  that  the  people  to  whom  they  were  so 
greatly  indebted  were  the  descendants  of  the  accursed 
son  of  Ham.  This  would  be  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
conduct  of  the  Caucasian  race  to-day. 

We  have  also  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Barnes  that  the 
Phoenicians  were  descended  from  the  Canaanites.  In 
his  notes  on  Matt,  xv,  22,  of  the  woman  of  Canaan 
who  met  Jesus  on  the  coasts  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  he  says : 
"This  woman  is  called  also  a  Greek,  a  Syrophcenician 
by  birth  (Mark  vii,  26).  Anciently  the  whole  land,  in- 
cluding Tyre  and  Sidon,  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
*  Rollin,  book  i,  p.  160. 


36  ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 

Canaanites,  and  called  Canaan.  The  Phoenicians  were 
descended  from  the  Canaanites.  The  country,  including 
Tyre  and  Sidon,  was  called  Phoenicia,  or  Syrophcenicia ; 
that  country  was  taken  by  the  Greeks  under  Alexander 
the  Great,  and  these  cities  in  the  time  of  Christ  were 
Greek  cities.  This  woman  was  therefore  a  Gentile,  liv- 
ing under  the  Greek  government  and  probably  speaking 
that  language.  She  was  by  birth  a  Syrophcenician, 
born  in  that  country,  and  descended  therefore  from  the 
ancient  Canaanites." 

On  the  same  text  Dr.  Abbott  says:  "  The  term  Canaan 
was  the  older  title  of  the  country,  and  the  inhabitants 
were  successively  termed  Canaanites  and  Phoenicians,  as 
the  inhabitants  of  England  were  successively  called  Brit- 
ons and  Englishmen." 

Of  Carthage  we  may  remark  that  through  all  the  hun- 
dreds of  years  of  its  existence  as  an  independent  gov- 
ernment it  remained  a  republic.  Rollin,  speaking  of  its 
government,  says : 

"  The  government  of  Carthage  was  founded  upon  principles  of  most  con- 
summate wisdom  ;  and  it  is  with  reason  that  Aristotle  ranks  this  republic 
in  the  number  of  those  that  were  had  in  the  greatest  esteem  by  the  an- 
cients, and  which  were  fit  to  serve  as  a  model  for  others.  He  grounds  his 
opinion  on  a  reflection  which  does  great  honor  to  Carthage  by  remarking 
that  from  the  foundation  to  his  time  (that  is,  upward  of  five  hundred  years) 
no  considerable  sedition  had  disturbed  the  peace  nor  any  tyrant  oppressed 
the  liberty  of  the  State.  Indeed,  mixed  governments,  such  as  that  of 
Carthage,  where  the  power  was  divided  betwixt  the  nobles  and  the  people, 
are  subject  to  the  inconveniences  either  of  degenerating  into  an  abuse  of 
liberty  by  the  seditions  of  the  populace,  as  frequently  happened  in  Athens 
and  in  all  the  Grecian  republics,  or  in  the  oppression  of  the  public 
liberty  by  the  tyranny  of  the  nobles,  as  in  Athens,  Syracuse,  Corinth, 
Thebes,  and  Rome  itself  under  Sylla  and  Caesar.  It  is  therefore  giving 
Carthage  the  highest  praise  to  observe  that  it  had  found  out  the  art, 
by  the  wisdom  of  its  laws  and  the  harmony  of  the  different  parts  of  its 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  37 

government,  to  shun  during  so  long  a  series  of  years  two  rocks  that  are  so 
dangerous  and  on  which  others  so  often  split.  It  were  to  be  wished  that 
some  ancient  author  had  left  us  an  accurate  and  regular  description  of  the 
customs  and  laws  of  the  famous  republic." 


While  we  agree  with  Rollin  in  his  lament  of  the  want 
of  a  more  complete  history  of  that  ancient  Negro  repub- 
lic, yet  if  those  Caucasians  who  are  wont  to  arrogate  to 
themselves  all  the  excellencies  of  this  world,  and  to  deny 
that  the  Negro  ever  has  been  great  or  ever  can  be, 
would  take  time  to  read  what  has  been  written,  with 
sufficient  care  to  understand  it,  they  would  lose  some  of 
their  self-conceit  and  add  much  to  their  store  of  knowl- 
edge. 

Having  touched  briefly  upon  the  history  of  the  poster- 
ity of  Ham  through  his  younger  son,  we  shall  now  take 
a  brief  view  of  the  greatness  of  that  posterity  as  it  is 
seen  in  his  descendants  through  his  second  son,  Mizraim. 
That  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  black  both  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  the  discoveries  of  science,  as  also  the  most 
ancient  history,  most  fully  attest.  But  as  some  profess 
to  have  doubts  on  this  point  we  shall  take  some  testi- 
mony which  we  think  no  fair-minded  man  will  attempt 
to  dispute. 

The  psalmist  calls  to  memory  the  wonders  which  God 
wrought  for  his  people,  and  celebrates  in  song  his  deal- 
ings with  Israel  in  Egypt,  and  frequently  calls  Egypt  the 
land  of  Ham.  How  can  this  be  accounted  for  if  Egypt 
was  not  peopled  by  the  posterity  of  Ham  ?  But  he  goes 
further  than  this ;  he  calls  their  dwellings  the  tabernacles 
of  Ham.  He  "smote  all  the  firstborn  in  Egypt;  the 
chief   of   their   strength    in    the    tabernacles    of    Ham  " 


38  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

(Psalm  lxxviii,  51).  "  Israel  also  came  into  Egypt;  and 
Jacob  sojourned  in  the  land  of  Ham"  (Psalm  cv,  23).  "  He 
sent  Moses  his  servant,  and  Aaron  whom  he  had  chosen. 
They  set  among  them  his  signs,  and  wonders  in  the  land 
of  Ham  "  (Psalm  cv,  26,  27).  "They  forgat  God  their  sav- 
iour, which  had  done  great  things  in  Egypt ;  wondrous 
works  in  the  land  of  Ham  "  (Psalm  xvi,  21,  22). 

The  man  who,  after  reading  these  passages,  can  doubt 
that  the  Egyptians,  to  whom  Israel  was  in  bondage,  were 
the  descendants  of  Ham  is  beyond  the  reach  of  reason. 
The  repetition  seems  designed  to  settle  this  fact  beyond 
question.  We  might  add,  if  it  were  necessary,  that  the 
Book  of  Canticles  is  an  allegory  based  upon  Solomon's 
affection  for  his  beautiful  black  wife,  the  daughter  of. 
Pharaoh,  King  of  Egypt. 

In  the  sixty-eighth  psalm  we  have  a  prophecy  which 
connects  Egypt  with  Ethiopia,  as  follows :  ' '  Princes  shall 
come  out  of  Egypt,  Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  forth  her 
hands  unto  God." 

Rollin,  in  speaking  of  the-  fact  that  all  callings  in 
Egypt  were  honorable,  gives  this  as  a  probable  reason, 
that  "as  they  all  descended  from  Ham,*  their  common 
father,  the  memory  of  their  still  recent  origin  occurring 
to  the  minds  of  all  in  those  first  ages,  established  among 
them  a  kind  of  equality,  and  stamped,  in  their  opinion, 
a  nobility  on  every  person  descended  from  the  common 
stock."  f 

Again,  treating  of  the  history  of  the  kings  of  Egypt, 
Rollin  says :    ' '  The  ancient  history  of  Egypt  comprises 

*  Rollin  calls  him  "  Cham." 

t  See  Ancient  Hisiory,  by  Charles  Rollin,  vol.  i,  p.  1 52. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  39 

two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  years,  and  is 
naturally  divided  into  three  periods.  The  first  begins 
with  the  establishment  of  the  Egyptian  monarchy  by 
Menes  or  Mizraim,  the  son  of  Ham,  in  the  year  of  the 
world  1 8 16.* 

On  the  next  page  he  says  of  Ham :  ' '  He  had  four 
children,  Cush,  Mizraim,  Phut,  and  Canaan."  After  speak- 
ing of  the  settlement  of  the  other  sons  he  returns  to  Miz- 
raim and  says :  ' '  He  is  allowed  to  be  the  same  as  Menes, 
whom  all  historians  declare  to  be  the  first  king  of  Egypt." 

In  speaking  of  the  settlement  of  the  sons  of  Ham,  Rol- 
lin  says:  "  Cush  settled  in  Ethiopia,  Mizraim  in  Egypt, 
which  generally  is  called  in  Scripture  after  his  name  and 
by  that  of  Cham  (Ham),  his  father;  Phut  took  possession 
of  that  part  of  Africa  which  lies  westward  of  Egypt,  and 
Canaan  of  that  country  which  afterward  bore  his  name." 

That  ancient  Egypt  was  the  seat  of  the  arts  and 
sciences  there  can  be  no  doubt;  the  evidences  of  this 
still  remain.  The  cities  built  by  the  early  kings  of  Egypt 
have  been  the  wonder  of  all  succeeding  ages. 

Sesostris  stands  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  the  great 
Egyptian  warriors.     Rollin  says : 

"  His  father,  whether  by  inspiration,  caprice,  or,  as  the  Egyptians  say,  by 
the  authority  of  an  oracle,  formed  the  design  of  making  his  son  a  con- 
queror. This  he  set  about  after  the  Egyptian  manner  ;  that  is,  in  a  great 
and  noble  way.  All  the  male  children  born  on  the  same  day  with  Sesos- 
tris were  by  the  king  ordered  brought  to  court.  Here  they  were  educated 
as  if  they  had  been  his  own  children,  with  the  same  care  as  was  bestowed 
on  Sesostris,  with  whom  they  were  brought  up.  He  could  not  possibly 
have  given  him  more  faithful  ministers  nor  officers  who  more  zealously 
desired  the  success  of  his  arms.  The  chief  part  of  their  education  was 
inuring  them  from  infancy  to  a  hard  and  laborious  life,  in  order  that  they 
might  one  day  be  capable  of  sustaining  with  ease  the  toils  of  war. 

*  See  vol.  i,  p.  161. 

5 


4-0  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

"  Sesostris  was  taught  by  Mercury,  a  native  Egyptian,  whom  the  Greeks 
pronounced  thrice  great.  The  instruction  included  politics  and  the  art  of 
government.  His  first  venture  in  war  was  against  the  Arabians,  whom  he 
subdued  ;  a  nation  which  had  never  before  been  conquered.  He  next  in- 
vaded Libya  and  subdued  the  greater  part  of  that  country.  At  the  death 
of  his  father  he  felt  himself  capable  of  undertaking  the  greatest  enterprises. 
.  .  .  He  formed  no  less  a  design  than  the  conquest  of  the  world.  But 
before  he  left  his  kingdom  he  provided  for  his  domestic  security  in  win- 
ning the  hearts  of  his  subjects  by  his  generosity  and  justice,  and  a  popular, 
obliging  behavior.  He  was  no  less  studious  to  gain  the  affection  of  his' 
officers  and  soldiers,  whom  he  wished  to  be  ever  ready  to  shed  the  last 
drop  of  their  blood  in  his  service,  persuaded  that  his  enterprises  would  all 
be  unsuccessful  unless  his  army  should  be  attached  to  his  person  by  all 
the  ties  of  esteem,  affection,  and  interest.  He  divided  the  country  into 
thirty-six  governments  (called  Nomi),  and  bestowed  them  on  persons  of 
merit  and  the  most  approved  fidelity.  In  the  meantime  he  made  the 
requisite  preparation,  levied  forces,  and  headed  them  with  officers  of  the 
greatest  bravery  and  reputation ;  and  these  were  taken  chiefly  from  among 
the  youths  who  had  been  educated  with  him.  He  had  seventeen  hundred 
of  these  officers,  who  were  all  capable  of  inspiring  his  troops  with  resolu- 
tion, a  love  of  discipline,  and  a  zeal  for  the  service  of  their  prince.  His 
army  consisted  of  600,000  foot  and  24,000  horse,  besides  27,000  armed 
chariots. 

"He  began  his  expedition  by  invading  Ethiopia,  situated  on  the  south  of 
Egypt.  He  made  it  tributary  and  obliged  the  nations  to  furnish  him 
annually  a  certain  quantity  of  ebony,  ivory,  and  gold. 

"  He  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  four  hundred  sail  and  ordered  it  to  advance  to  the 
Red  Sea,  made  himself  master  of  the  isles  and  cities  lying  on  the  coast  of 
the  sea.  He  himself  leading  the  army,  he  overran  and  subdued  Asia  with 
amazing  rapidity,  and  advanced  farther  into  India  than  Hercules,  Bac- 
chus, and  in  after  times  Alexander  himself  ever  did ;  for  he  subdued  the 
countries  beyond  the  Ganges  and  advanced  as  far  as  the  ocean.  One- 
may  judge  from  hence  how  unable  the  more  neighboring  nations  were  to 
resist  him.  The  Scythians,  as  far  as  the  river  Tonais,  as  well  as  Armenia 
and  Cappadocia,  were  conquered.  He  left  a  colony  in  the  ancient  kingdom 
of  Colchos,  situated  to  the  east  of  the  Black  Sea,  where  the  Egyptian  cus- 
toms and  manners  have  been  ever  since  retained. 

"  Herodotus  saw  in  Asia  Minor,  from  one  sea  to  the  other,  monuments  I 
of  his  victories.  In  several  countries  was  read  the  following  inscription 
engraved  on  pillars  :  '  Sesostris,  King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords,  sub- 
dued this  country  by  the  power  of  his  arms.'  Such  pillars  were  found 
even  in  Thrace,  and  his  empire  extended  from  the  Ganges  to  the  Danube. 
.  .  .  The  scarcity  of  provision  in  Thrace  stopped  the  progress  of  his  con- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         4 1 

quests  and  prevented  his  advancing  further  into  Europe.  .  .  .  He  re- 
turned, therefore,  laden  with  the  spoils  of  the  vanquished  nations,  drag- 
ging after  him  a  numberless  multitude  of  captives,  and  covered  with 
greater  glory  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ;  that  glory,  I  mean,  which  em- 
ploys so  many  tongues  and  pens  in  its  praise  ;  which  consists  in  invading 
a  great  number  of  provinces  in  a  hostile  way  and  is  often  productive  of 
numberless  calamities.  He  rewarded  his  officers  and  soldiers  with  a  truly 
royal  magnificence,  in  proportion  to  their  rank  and  merit.  He  made  it 
both  his  pleasure  and  duty  to  put  the  companions  of  his  victory  in  such  a 
condition  as  might  enable  them  to  enjoy  during  the  remainder  of  their 
days  a  calm  and  easy  repose,  the  just  reward  of  their  past  toils.  With  re- 
gard to  himself,  forever  careful  of  his  own  reputation,  and  still  more  of 
making  his  power  advantageous  to  his  subjects,  he  employed  the  repose 
which  peace  allowed  him  in  raising  works  that  might  contribute  more  to 
the  enriching  of  Egypt  than  the  immortalizing  of  his  own  name  ;  works 
in  which  art  and  industry  of  the  workmen  were  more  admired  than  the 
immense  sums  which  had  been  expended  on  them." 

In  the  face  of  these  indisputable  facts  of  history, 
Mede  says :  ' '  There  never  has  been  a  son  of  Ham  who 
hath  shaken  a  scepter  over  Japheth ;  Shem  hath  subdued 
Japheth  and  Japheth  subdued  Shem,  but  Ham  never  sub- 
dued either." 

Mede's  historical  researches  must  have  been  barren  of 
results,  or  he  must  have  forgotten  many  things.  It  is. 
amazing  what  an  amount  of  ignorance  and  stupidity 
race  prejudice,  conceit,  and  arrogance  are  responsible  for. 

Gardner  says:  "It  is  to  the  Caucasian  race  that  the 
history  of  the  world  must  mainly  confine  itself,  for  with 
that  race  originated  almost  all  that  ennobles  and  digni- 
fies mankind." 

Another  outburst  of  Caucasian  wind.  These  thought- 
less scribes  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that  the  race  of 
Ham  dominated  the  world  for  nearly,  if  not  quite,  fifteen 
hundred  years.  They  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that 
for  fifteen  hundred  years  more  dominion  was  constantly 


42  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

shifting,  and  no  one  race  held  undisputed  sway.  For  the 
last  two  thousand  years  the  ascending  star  of  empire  has 
been  with  the  Caucasian  races ;  Japheth,  the  last,  has 
become  first. 

The  facts  recorded  by  Rollin  concerning  Sesostris  are 
not  at  all  liable  to  the  suspicion  of  having  been  colored 
by  his  admiration  of  that  great  prince.  Rollin  indicates 
very  clearly  the  absence  of  admiration  ;  he  not  only  ques- 
tions that  kind  of  glory  which  historians  accorded  to 
Sesostris,  but  also  criticises  his  vanity,  as  follows : 

"  Sesostris  might  have  been  considered  as  one  of  the  most  illustrious  and 
most  boasted  heroes  of  antiquity  had  not  the  luster  of  his  warlike  actions, 
as  well  as  pacific  virtues,  been  dimmed  by  a  thirst  of  glory  and  a  blind 
fondness  for  his  own  grandeur  which  made  him  forget  that  he  was  a  man. 
The  kings  and  chiefs  of  the  conquered  nations  came  at  stated  times  to 
do  homage  to  their  victor  and  pay  him  the  appointed  tribute ;  on  every 
other  occasion  he  treated  them  with  sufficient  humanity  and  generosity, 
but  when  he  went  to  the  temple  or  entered  his  capital  he  caused  these 
princes  to  be  harnessed  to  his  car,  four  abreast,  instead  of  horses,  and 
valued  himself  upon  his  being  thus  drawn  by  the  lords  and  sovereigns  of 
other  nations.  What  I  am  most  surprised  at  is  that  Diodemus  should  rank 
this  foolish  and  inhuman  vanity  among  the  most  shining  acts  of  this  prince." 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  Rollin  was  ready  to  censure  even 
where  others  praised  Sesostris.  As  a  Christian,  Rollin 
was  compelled  to  condemn  this  unparalleled  exhibition  of 
human  vanity.  At  the  same  time  his  statement  of  the 
fact  indicates  the  high  esteem  in  which  this  prince  was 
held.  That  the  lords  of  those  conquered  nations  sub- 
mitted to  thus  dishonor  themselves  to  do  him  honor 
shows  how  completely  he  was  master  of  the  situation. 
It  indicates  more  than  this :  it  indicates  the  wonderful 
wisdom  and  power  of  that  black  prince,  in  that  he  was 
able,  through  a  long  reign,  to  hold  these  chiefs  in  faith- 
ful allegiance  without  a  single  revolt. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         43 

The  record  given  by  Rollin  indicates  that  Sesostris  was 
among  the  wisest,  as  well  as  among  the  most  powerful, 
monarchs  of  earth.  Napoleon  was  a  great  warrior,  but 
he  died  in  exile,  a  prisoner  of  war.  Alexander  was  a 
great  general,  but  he  made  a  foolish  march  across  a  des- 
ert country,  almost  to  the  destruction  of  his  army,  for  the 
foolish  purpose  of  worshiping  at  the  shrine  and  of  being 
called  the  son  of  Jupiter  Ammon.  This  so  discouraged 
his  forces  that  he  never  accomplished  the  object  of  his 
ambition.     For  this  many  of  his  command  despised  him. 

Sesostris  made  no  such  blunders  in  his  campaigns.  He 
went  forth  conquering  until  he  met  a  providential  inter- 
position ;  his  climax  of  wisdom  was  displayed  in  his  turn- 
ing back  when  he  discovered  that  not  merely  mortal  be- 
ings, but  the  great  Immortal,  opposed  his  further  con- 
quest. He  returned  to  his  own  country  to  enjoy,  in  peace 
and  prosperity,  the  fruits  of  his  unparalleled  victories. 
His  conduct  toward  those  cities  which  resisted  his  attacks 
most  stubbornly  was  in  striking  contrast  to  that  of  Alex- 
ander ;  as  Alexander  advanced  to  invade  Egypt  he  found 
at  Gaza  a  garrison  so  strong  that  he  was  obliged  to  be- 
siege it.  It  held  out  a  long  time,  during  which  he  re- 
ceived two  wounds ;  this  provoked  him  to  such  a  degree 
that  when  he  had  captured  the  place  he  treated  the  sol- 
diers and  inhabitants  most  cruelly.  He  cut  ten  thousand 
men  to  pieces  and  sold  all  the  rest,  with  their  wives  and 
children,  for  slaves.  His  treatment  of  Betis,  the  com- 
mandant of  the  forces,  was  the  most  shameful  of  any- 
thing recorded  in  history.  Sesostris,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  pleased  with  those  who  defended  their  possessions, 
most  bravely ;  the  degree  of   resistance  which  he  had  to 


44  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

overcome  was  denoted  by  him  in  hieroglyphical  figures 
on  monuments.  The  more  stubborn  the  resistance  the 
greater  the  achievement  and  the  more  worthy  the  people 
to  become  his  subjects.  Respecting  the  foolish  march  of 
Alexander  which  we  have  mentioned,  the  following,  from 
Rollin,  will  explain  : 

"At  Memphis  he  formed  a  design  of  visiting  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Am- 
nion ;  this  temple  was  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  sandy  deserts  of  Libya, 
and  twelve  days'  journey  from  Memphis.  Ham,  the  son  of  Noah,  first 
peopled  Egypt  and  Libya  after  the  flood  ;  and  when  idolatry  began  to 
gain  ground  in  the  world  some  time  after  he  was  the  chief  deity  of  those 
countries  in  which  his  descendants  had  continued.  A  temple  was  built  to 
his  honor  in  the  midst  of  these  deserts,  upon  a  spot  of  pretty  good  ground, 
about  two  leagues  broad,*  which  formed  a  kind  of  island  in  a  sea  of  sand.  It 
is  he  whom  the  Greeks  call  Jupiter  and  the  Egyptians  Ammon.  In  process 
of  time  these  two  names  were  joined,  and  he  was  called  Jupiter  Ammon. 

"  The  motive  of  this  journey,  which  was  equally  rash  and  dangerous,  was 
owing  to  a  ridiculous  vanity.  Alexander  having  read  in  Homer  and  other 
fabulous  authors  of  antiquity  that  most  of  their  heroes  were  represented 
as  the  sons  of  some  deity,  and  as  he  himself  was  desirous  of  passing  for  a 
hero,  he  was  determined  to  have  some  god  for  his  father.  Accordingly, 
he  fixed  upon  Jupiter  Ammon  for  this  purpose,  and  began  by  bribing  the 
priests  and  teaching  them  the  part  they  were  to  act.  .  .  .  Alexander  had  a 
journey  to  go  of  sixteen  hundred  stadia,  or  eighty  French  leagues,  to  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon,  and  most  of  the  way  through  sandy  deserts. 
The  soldiers  were  patient  enough  for  the  first  two  days'  march,  before  they 
arrived  in  the  extensive,  dreadful  solitudes  ;  but  as  soon  as  they  found  them- 
selves in  vast  plains,  covered  with  sands  of  prodigious  depth,  they  were 
greatly  terrified.  .  .  . 

"  They  were  several  days  in  crossing  these  deserts,  and  upon  arriving  near 
the  place  where  the  oracle  stood  they  perceived  a  great  number  of  ravens 
flying  before  the  most  advanced  standard.  These  ravens  sometimes  flew 
to  the  ground  when  the  army  marched  slowly,  and  at  other  times  advanced 
forward,  as  if  it  were  to  serve  them  as  guides,  till  they  at  last  came  to  the 
temple  of  the  god.  A  surprising  circumstance  is  that,  although  this  ora- 
cle is  situated  in  the  midst  of  an  almost  boundless  solitude,  it  neverthe- 
less is  surrounded  with  a  grove  so  very  shady  that  the  sunbeams  can 
scarcely  pierce  it,  not  to  mention  that  this  grove  or  wood  is  watered  with 
several  springs  of  fresh  water,  which  preserve  it  in  perpetual  verdure. 

*  About  five  miles. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         45 

"  It  is  related  that  near  this  grove  there  is  another,  in  the  midst  of  which 
is  a  fountain  called  the  Water  of  the  Sun.  At  daybreak  it  is  lukewarm  ;  at 
noon  cool,  but  in  the  evening  it  grows  warmer  and  at  midnight  is  boiling 
hot ;  after  this  as  day  approaches  it  decreases  in  heat,  and  continues  this 
vicissitude  forever.  The  god  who  is  worshiped  in  this  temple  is  not  rep- 
resented under  the  form  which  painters  and  sculptors  generally  give  to 
gods,  for  he  is  made  of  emeralds  and  other  precious  stones,  and  from  head 
to  navel  resembles  a  ram. 

"The  king  being  come  into  the  temple,  the  senior  priest  declared  him  to 
be  the  son  of  Jupiter,  and  assured  him  that  God  himself  bestowed  this  name 
upon  him.  Alexander  accepted  it  with  joy  and  acknowledged  Jupiter  his 
father.  He  afterward  asked  the  priest  whether  his  father  Jupiter  had  not 
allotted  him  the  empire  of  the  world  ;  to  which  the  priest,  who  was  as  much 
a  flatterer  as  the  king  was  vainglorious,  answered  that  he  should  be  mon- 
arch of  the  universe.  At  last  he  inquired  whether  all  his  father's  *  mur- 
derers had  been  punished  ;  but  the  priest  replied  that  he  blasphemed, 
that  his  father  was  immortal,  but  that  with  regard  to  the  murderers  of 
Philip,  they  had  all  been  expiated,  adding  that  he  should  be  invincible,  and 
afterward  take  his  seat  among  the  deities.  Having  ended  his  sacrifices, 
he  offered  magnificent  presents  to  the  god,  and  did  not  forget  the  priests 
who  had  been  so  faithful  to  his  interests. 

"  Decorated  with  the  splendid  title  of  the  son  of  Jupiter,  and  fancying 
himself  raised  above  the  human  species,  he  returned  from  his  journey  as 
from  a  triumph.  From  that  time,  in  all  his  letters,  his  orders  and  decrees,  he 
always  wrote  the  following  :  '  Alexander  King,  Son  of  Jupiter  Ammon.' " 

If  the  fact  that  Sesostris  had  his  chiefs  to  take  the  place 
of  horses  in  conveying-  him  to  the  temple  was  vain  and 
foolish,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  vanity  of  Alexander  in 
this  exploit  ?  But  I  have  transcribed  this  passage  for 
the  purpose  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact  that  there 
could  have  been  no  such  prejudice  against  the  Negro, 
Ham,  at  that  day,  as  his  race  endures  to-day.  There 
could  have  been  no  thought  that  he  was  inferior  to  Shem 
or  Japheth,  for  here  we  see  the  most  distinguished  of  the 
warriors  descending  from  Japheth  renouncing  his  own 
race  and  his  own  father  and  claiming  Ham,  deified,  for 
his  father. 

*  Philip. 


46  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

We  can  hardly  think  that  Alexander  was  so  ignorant 
as  not  to  know  in  whose  honor  and  to  whose  memory  this 
god  was  erected.  The  country  in  which  he  was  situated, 
his  black  priests,  and  all  the  circumstances  surrounding 
him  rendered  it  impossible  for  Alexander  to  escape  the 
knowledge  of  his  identity.  This  ought  to  satisfy  any 
reasonable  mind  that  the  race  of  Ham  must  some  time 
have  been  uppermost  among  the  sons  of  men. 

Cadmus,  who  invented  letters  and  took  them  to  Greece, 
is  admitted  to  have  been  either  Egyptian  or  Phoenician 
(both  claimed  him) ;  it  does  not  matter  which,  he  was  a 
descendant  of  Ham ;  and  he  may  have  descended  from 
both  by  intermarriage. 

The  ancient  greatness  of  Ham's  descendants  on  the 
line  of  his  elder  son,  Cush,  is  most  strikingly  set  forth  by 
Moses  in  the  Book  of  Genesis.  The  record  is  as  follows : 
' '  Cush  begat  Nimrod :  he  began  to  be  a  mighty  one  in 
the  earth.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord. 
.  .  .  And  the  beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  and 
Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Calneh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar. 
Out  of  that  land  went  forth  Asshur,  and  builded  Nineveh, 
and  the  city  Rehoboth,  and  Calah,  and  Resen  between 
Nineveh  and  Calah :   the  same  is  a  great  city." 

The  sacred  historian  generally  in  recording  facts  on 
this  side  of  the  flood  gives  only  a  particular  account  of 
the  posterity  of  Shem,  and  enlarges  upon  facts  respecting 
other  nations  only  in  some  relation  to  Shem's  posterity. 
The  passage  just  quoted  is  a  departure  from  this  rule, 
and  the  reason  for  the  special  prominence  given  to  this 
distinguished  Ethiopian  is  far  to  seek  unless  it  was 
Jehovah's  purpose   that  a  despised   race,  in  generations 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         47 

following,  should  thus  be  able  to  point  to  the  greatness 
of  its  ancestry. 

Take  this  record,  found  in  the  tenth  chapter  of  Genesis, 
and  you  will  notice  that  nearly  one  fourth  of  the  chapter 
is  taken  up  with  the  account  of  this  one  man.  It  is  the 
chapter  in  which  Moses  gives  the  settlements  of  the 
generations  of  Noah ;  all  that  is  said  of  more  than  fifty 
heads  of  families  is  contained  in  this  chapter ;  but,  as  we 
have  noticed,  Nimrod  gets  the  lion's  share,  and  is  made  to 
appear  more  distinguished  for  his  greatness  and  mighty 
achievements  than  any  other  man  from  the  time  of  Noah 
to  that  of  Abraham.  The  historian  could  not  have  given 
him  greater  prominence,  and  the  fact  that  Moses  wrote 
by  inspiration  heightens  the  significance  of  the  record 
and  adds  to  the  distinction  of  this  ancient  black  hero. 
We  may  remark,  however,  that  Moses,  having  married  a 
black  woman,  was  not  averse  to  doing  justice  to  her  race, 
a  thing  which  cannot  be  said  of  modern  historians. 

In  this  record  it  is  seen  that  Nimrod  was  the  first  of 
earth's  great  monarchs ;  the  first  to  erect  a  great  empire, 
the  first  to  bring  other  nation's  under  his  control.  He 
was  the  beginning  or  first  of  mighty  ones  among  men, 
and  also  a  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord.  He  was  the 
greatest  man  that  lived  during  a  period  of  several  hun- 
dred years.  His  might  was  proverbial,  so  that  it  was 
said,  "as  Nimrod  the  mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord," 
or  "as  Nimrod  the  mighty  one."  His  might  is  not  only 
expressed  in  this  language,  but  it  is  seen  in  the  extent 
of  his  empire  and  in  the  numerous  cities  he  built ;  it  is 
also  seen  in  the  duration  of  his  empire,  for  the  govern- 
ment continued  in  his  posterity  for  hundreds  of  years. 


48  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Among  his  successors  were  not  only  some  of  the  mightiest 
men  that  ever  ruled,  but  also  a  woman  who  led  to  victory 
the  largest  army  ever  marshaled  by  a  female.  We  refer 
to  Semiramis.  It  was  she  to  whom  Alexander  referred 
when  he  admitted  that  a  woman  had  performed  mightier 
achievements  in  a  certain  land  than  he  had. 

This  Babylonian  or  Chaldean  empire,  established  by 
Nimrod  and  enlarged  and  embellished,  by  his  successors, 
was  the  head  of  gold  in  the  image  seen  by  Nebuchadnez- 
zar in  his  dream,  which  went  from  him  and  was  recalled 
by  the  prophet  Daniel.  It  had  for  hundreds  of  years  al- 
most universal  dominion.  In  support  of  this  position  we 
once  more  turn  to  Rollin,  book  iii,  chapter  i : 

"  The  Assyrian  empire  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  the 
world.  As  to  the  length  of  its  duration  two  particular  opinions  have 
chiefly  prevailed.  Some  authors,  as  Clesias,  whose  opinion  is  followed  by 
Justor,  give  it  a  duration  of  thirteen  hundred  years ;  others  reduce  it  to 
five  hundred  and  twenty,  of  which  number  is  Herodotus.  The  diminu- 
tion, or  rather  the  interruption,  of  power  which  happened  in  this  vast  em- 
pire might  possibly  give  occasion  to  this  difference  of  opinion,  and  may 
perhaps  serve  in  some  measure  to  reconcile  it. 

"  The  history  of  those  early  times  is  so  obscure,  the  monuments  which 
convey  it  down  to  us  so  contrary  to  each  other,  and  the  systems  of  the 
moderns  upon  that  matter  so  different,  that  it  is  difficult  to  lay  down  any 
opinion  about  it  as  certain  and  incontestable.  But  where  certainty  is  not 
to  be  had  I  suppose  a  reasonable  person  will  be  satisfied  with  probability ; 
and  in  my  opinion  a  man  can  hardly  be  deceived  if  he  makes  the  Assyrian 
empire  equal  in  antiquity  with  the  city  of  Babylon,  its  capital. 

"  Now  we  learn  from  the  Holy  Scripture  that  this  was  built  by  Nimrod, 
who  certainly  was  a  great  conqueror,  and  in  all  probability  the  first  and 
most  ancient  of  all  those  who  have  ever  aspired  after  that  denomination. 

"  The  Babylonians,  as  Callisthenes,  a  philosopher  in  Alexander's  retinue, 
wrote  to  Aristotle,  reckoned  themselves  to  be  at  least  of  nineteen  hundred 
and  three  years'  standing  when  that  prince  entered  triumphant  into  Baby- 
lon, which  makes  their  origin  reach  back  to  the  year  of  the  world  177 1, 
that  is  to  say,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years  after  the  deluge.  This  com- 
putation comes  within  a  few  years  of  the  time  in  which  we  suppose  Nimrod 
to  have  founded  that  city.     Indeed,  this  testimony  of  Callisthenes,  as  it 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         49 

does  not  agree  with  other  accounts  of  that  matter  is  not  esteemed  authen- 
tic by  the  learned;  but  the  conformity  we  find  between  it  and  the  Holy 
Scriptures  should  make  us  regard  it.  Upon  these  grounds  we  think  we 
may  allow  Nimrod  to  have  been  the  founder  of  the  first  Assyrian  empire, 
which  subsisted,  with  more  or  less  extent  and  glory,  upward  of  fourteen 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  from  the  time  of  Nimrod  to  that  of  Sardanapalus, 
the  last  king,  that  is  to  say,  from  the  year  of  the  world  1800  to  the  year 

3257- 

"  Nimrod  :  he  is  the  same  with  Belus,  who  was  afterward  worshiped  as  a 
god  under  that  appellation.  He  was  the  son  of  Cush,  grandson  of  Ham, 
and  great-grandson  of  Noah.  He  was,  says  the  Scripture,  '  a  mighty 
hunter  before  the  Lord.'  In  applying  himself  to  this  laborious  and  dan- 
gerous exercise  he  had  two  things  in  view  :  the  first  was  to  gain  the  peo- 
ple's affection  by  delivering  them  from  the  fury  and  dread  of  wild  beasts ; 
the  next  was  to  train  up  numbers  of  young  people  by  this  exercise  of  hunt- 
ing to  endure  labor  and  hardship,  to  form  them  to  the  use  of  arms,  to 
inure  them  to  a  kind  of  discipline  and  obedience,  that  at  a  proper  time 
after  they  had  been  accustomed  to  his  orders  and  seasoned  to  arms  he 
might  make  use  of  them  for  other  purposes  more  serious  than  hunting. 
In  ancient  history  we  find  some  footprints  remaining  of  this  artifice  of 
Nimrod,  whom  the  writers  have  confounded  with  Ninus,  his  son  ;  for 
Dodonus  has  these  words:  '  Ninus,  the  most  ancient  of  the  Assyrian  kings 
mentioned  in  history,  performed  great  actions  ;  being  naturally  of  a  warlike 
disposition  and  ambitious  of  the  glory  that  results  from  valor,  he  armed  a 
considerable  number  of  young  men  that  were  brave  and  vigorous  like  him- 
self, trained  them  up  for  a  long  time  in  laborious  exercises  and  hardships,  and 
by  that  means  accustomed  them  to  bear  the  fatigues  of  war  patiently  and 
to  face  danger  with  courage  and  intrepidity.' 

"  What  the  same  author  adds,  that  Ninus  entered  into  alliance  with  the 
king  of  the  Arabs  and  joined  forces  with  him,  is  a  piece  of  ancient  tradi- 
tion which  informs  us  that  the  sons  of  Cush,  and  by  consequence  the 
brothers  of  Nimrod,  all  settled  themselves  in  Arabia,  along  the  Persian 
Gulf,  from  Thavila  to  the  ocean,  and  lived  near  enough  to  their  brother  to 
lend  him  succor  or  receive  succor  from  him.  And  what  the  same  his- 
torian further  says  of  Ninus,  that  he  was  the  first  king  of  the  Assyrians, 
agrees  exactly  with  what  the  Scripture  says  of  Nimrod,  that  he  began  to 
be  mighty  upon  the  earth  ;  that  is,  he  procured  himself  settlements,  built 
cities,  subdued  his  neighbors,  united  different  people  under  one  and  the 
same  authority  by  the  band  of  the  same  polity  and  the  same  laws,  and 
formed  them  into  one  State,  which,  for  those  early  times,  was  of  a  consid- 
erable extent,  though  bounded  by  the  rivers  Euphrates  and  Tigris,  and 
which  in  succeeding  ages  made  new  acquisitions  by  degrees  and  at  length 
extended  its  conquests  very  far.     The  capital  city  of  this  kingdom,  says 


50  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

the  Scripture,  was  Babylon.  Most  of  profane  historians  ascribe  the  found- 
ing of  Babylon  to  Semiramis  ;  others  to  Belus.  It  is  evident  that  both  the 
one  and  the  other  are  mistaken,  if  they  speak  of  the  first  founding  of  the 
city,  for  it  owes  its  beginning  neither  to  Semiramis  nor  Nimrod,  but  to  the 
foolish  vanity  of  those  persons  mentioned  in  Scripture  who  desired  to  build 
a  tower  and  a  city  that  should  render  their  memory  immortal.  Josephus 
relates,  upon  the  testimony  of  a  sibyl  (who  must  have  been  very  ancient 
and  whose  fictions  cannot  be  imputed  to  the  indiscreet  zeal  of  any  Chris- 
tians), that  the  gods  threw  clown  the  tower  by  an  impetuous  wind  or  a  vio- 
lent hurricane.  Had  this  been  the  case  Nim rod's  temerity  must  have  been 
much  greater  to  rebuild  a  city  and  a  tower  which  God  himself  had  thrown 
down  with  such  marks  of  his  displeasure.  But  the  Scripture  says  no  such 
thing,  and  it  is  very  probable  the  building  remained  in  the  condition  it  was 
when  God  put  an  end  to  the  work  by  the  confusion  of  their  languages,  and 
that  the  tower  consecrated  to  Belus,  which  is  described  by  Herodotus,  was 
this  very  tower  which  the  sons  of  men  pretended  to  raise  to  the  clouds.  .  .  . 
"  Nimrod  was  the  first  who  encompassed  it  afterward  with  walls,  settled 
therein  his  friends  and  confederates,  and  subdued  those  that  lived  round 
about  it,  beginning  his  empire  in  that  place  but  not  confining  it  to  so  narrow 
a  compass.  .  .  .  Having  possessed  himself  of  the  provinces  of  Asshur,  he  did 
not  ravage  them  like  a  tyrant,  but  filled  them  with  cities,  and  made  him- 
self as  much  loved  by  his  new  subjects  as  he  was  by  his  old  ones.  .  .  . 
Among  other  cities  he  built  one  more  large  and  magnificent  than  the  rest, 
which  he  called  Nineveh,  from  the  name  of  his  son  Ninus,  in  order  to  im- 
mortalize his  memory.  The  son  in  his  turn,  out  of  veneration  for  his  father, 
was  willing  that  they  who  had  served  him  as  their  king  should  adore  him 
as  their  god,  and  induce  other  nations  to  render  him  the  same  worship. 
For  it  appears  plainly  that  Nimrod  is  the  famous  Belus  of  the  Babylonians, 
the  first  king  whom  the  people  deified  for  his  great  actions." 

One  difficulty  with  profane  authors  respecting-  Nimrod 
is  that  they  have  overlooked  the  fact  that  he  possessed 
himself  of  the  land  of  Asshur,  or  Assyria ;  and  another 
is  that  one  profane  author,  at  some  period,  fell  into  the 
mistake  of  confounding  the  acts  of  Ninus  with  those  of 
his  father  Nimrod,  and  others  have  copied  the  error. 
Like  Rollin,  we  plant  ourselves  upon  the  Bible ;  our  first 
knowledge  of  ancient  history  was  obtained  from  that 
source.  Where  it  speaks  at  all  it  is  the  rule  by  which 
all  must  be  squared ;  where  it  is  silent  other  creditable 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.  5  I 

authorities  are  good ;  but  that  which  is  in  direct  conflict 
with  it  must  be  error.  The  Bible,  as  we  have  seen,  sets 
forth  the  greatness  of  Nimrod  so  clearly  that  he  who 
reads  *  may  run.  There  are  some  who  think  he  is  set 
forth  in  contrast  to  Abraham ;  that  Nimrod,  in  his  lust 
for  power,  his  vanity,  ambition,  and  aggressiveness,  was 
the  representative  of  those  who  have  their  portion  in  this 
world,  while  Abraham  was  the  representative  of  those 
who  acknowledge  themselves  strangers  and  sojourners 
here  on  earth  and  are  seeking  a  better  country. 

The  testimony  which  might  be  gathered  in  support  of 
the  position  we  have  taken  respecting  the  ancient  great- 
ness of  Ham's  posterity  would  fill  a  volume  ;  but  the  lim- 
its of  the  plan  of  this  book  forbid  a  more  extended  con- 
sideration of  the  subject.  If  what  is  here  written  shall 
induce  those  who  come  after  us — whose  better  opportu- 
nities will  enable  them  to  give  the  subject  a  more  learned 
consideration — to  go  to  the  bottom  of  this  matter,  our 
reward  will  be  ample.  Those  who  take  issue  with  us 
will,  we  think,  be  compelled  to  pay  more  attention  to  the 
subject  than  historians  generally  are  wont  to  do.  Those 
who  may  be  inclined  to  combat  our  position  will  ask, 
"  If  the  race  of  Ham  was  once  so  great  why  is  it  now  so 
small?  Why  is  it  that  the  race  everywhere  is  so  de- 
graded, so  ignorant,  and  so  wretched?" 

The  answer  is  not  far  to  seek.  Ham  forsook  God  and 
took  the  world  for  his  portion.  The  language  of  Abra- 
ham addressed  to  the  rich  man  in  torment  might  well  be 
addressed  to  Ham:  "Son,  remember  that  thou  in  thy 
lifetime  receivedst  thy  good  things."     Ham  had  his  day, 

*  Hab.  ii,  2. 


52  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

and  made  very  bad  use  of  it.  For  fifteen  hundred  years 
he  possessed  the  earth  through  his  posterity,  and  what 
did  he  do  with  it?  He  led  the  nations  into  idolatry. 
He  began  at  Babel,  in  Nimrod  his  grandson,  to  exhibit 
his  daring  impiety.  God  had  said,  "  Go  forth,  multiply, 
and  replenish  the  earth"  (Gen.  viii,  16;  ix,  i).  Nimrod 
said,  "  No,  let  us  not  do  that.  It  is  not  well  for  us  to 
get  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth. 
'Go  to,  let  us  make  brick,  and  burn  them  thoroughly,' 
and  'let  us  build  us  a  city'  (here  in  Shinar),  and  let  us 
erect  'a  tower,  whose  top  may  reach  unto  heaven  '  (that 
we  may  see  it  at  any  distance,  that  it  may  serve  as  a 
rallying  point,  a  center  of  gravity  around  which  all  our 
interests  shall  cluster) ;  '  and  let  us  make  us  a  name,  lest 
we  be  scattered  abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth  ' ' 
(Gen.  xi,  3,  4). 

Of  course  in  this  great  empire,  of  which  this  city  was 
to  be  the  center,  Nimrod  was  to  be  the  sovereign.  He 
was  to  take  the  place  of  the  Almighty  in  the  hearts  and 
affections  of  the  people.  He  was  not  a  tyrant  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  that  term ;  he  was  a  bold,  fearless, 
scheming  political  boss.  He  was  the  more  dangerous 
and  the  more  successful  because  of  his  extraordinary 
sagacity ;  by  his  graceful  address,  his  wonderful  physical 
powers,  his  energy  and  dash,  he  won  the  hearts  of  the 
people  and  swayed  them  at  his  will,  just  as  scheming 
political  bosses  do  now.  The  purpose  of  God  was  to 
scatter  them ;  the  purpose  of  Nimrod  was  to  hold  them 
together  for  his  own  aggrandizement.  So  God  said, 
"  Go  to,  let  us  go  down,  and  there  confound  their  lan- 
guage, that  they  may  not  understand  one  another's  speech. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  53 

So  the  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from  thence  upon  the 
face  of  all  the  earth  "  (Gen.  xi,  7,  8). 

Although  Moses  does  not  mention  the  fact,  yet  we 
think  it  quite  probable  that  the  difference  in  complexion, 
as  well  as  language,  had  its  origin  in  connection  with 
this  purpose  of  God  to  scatter  the  nations  over  the  whole 
earth.  It  was  not  to  hinder  the  building  of  a  city  that 
God  confounded  their  languages,  but  to  scatter  them. 
For  God  said,  "Nothing  will  be  restrained  from  them 
which  they  have  imagined  to  do  "  (Gen.  xi,  6).  But  so 
long  as  they  are  one  people  and  one  language  they  will 
continue  to  hang  together.  Those  who  could  understand 
each  other  remained  together.  Many  remained  with 
Nimrod,  who  began  his  kingdom  there ;  notwithstanding 
the  displeasure  which  God  had  shown  respecting  his  con- 
duct, he  was  determined  to  make  himself  a  name  there. 
He  made  the  name:  Baal,  Bel,  Belus;  which  in  time  be- 
came Baal-berith,  Baal-gad,  Baal-moloch,  Baal-peor, 
Baal-zebub,  etc.  This  was  the  name  he  made,  and  not 
only  his  own  race,  but  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  for- 
sook God  and  went  a-whoring  after  it. 

Richard  Watson,  in  his  Biblical  and  Theological  Diction- 
ary, page  116,  after  speaking  of  the  general  use  of  the 
term  Baal  among  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians,  the 
Phoenicians,  Sidonians,  Tyrians,  Carthaginians,  and  other 
Canaanitish  nations,  says : 

"  It  is  remarkable  that  we  do  not  find  the  name  Baal  so  much  in  popu- 
lar use  east  of  Babylon  ;  but  it  was  general  west  of  Babylon  and  to  the 
very  extremity  of  western  Europe,  including  the  British  Isles.  The  wor- 
ship of  Baal,  Bel,  Belus,  and  Belenus  was  general  throughout  the  British 
Islands,  and  certain  of  its  rights  and  observances  are  still  maintained  among 
us,  notwithstanding  the  establishment  of  Christianity  during  so  many  ages. 
A  town  in  Perthshire,  on  the  borders  of  the  Highlands,  is  called  Tilliebel- 


54  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

lane,  or  Tilliebellane  ;  that  is,  the  eminence  or  rising  ground  of  the  fire  of 
Baal.  In  the  neighborhood  is  a  Druidical  temple  of  eight  upright  stones, 
where  it  is  supposed  the  fire  was  kindled.  At  some  distance  from  this  is 
another  temple  of  the  same  kind,  but  smaller;  and  near  it  a  well  still  held 
in  great  veneration.  On  Beltane  morning  superstitious  people  go  to  this 
well  and  drink  of  it,  then  make  a  procession  round  it  nine  times,  so  deep- 
rooted  is  this  heathenish  superstition  in  the  minds  of  many  who  reckon 
themselves  good  Protestants." 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  the  idolatry  established  by  the 
posterity  of  Ham  reached  the  uttermost  regions  of  the 
Caucasian  race.  This  is  the  great  sin  of  Ham  and  his 
sons ;  they  were  the  originators  and  promoters  of  idola- 
try, the  stench  in  God's  nostrils,  the  thing  of  all  most 
hateful  and  most  hated  by  the  sovereign  God  of  all. 
The  greatness  which  we  have  been  ascribing  to  Ham's 
race  is  the  earthly  sort,  that  which  profane  writers  of  every 
race  have  extolled.  It  is  from  their  standpoint  that  we 
have  been  writing.  We  claim  that  there  is  no  true 
greatness  outside  of  godliness.  The  mass  of  the  ancient 
descendants  of  Ham  were  not  godly,  and  therefore  not 
truly  great ;  they  were  men  who,  as  the  psalmist  says, 
have  their  portion  in  this  life.  Ham's  race  in  early 
times  produced  a  few  exceptions  to  this  rule.  Melchizedek, 
before  mentioned,  was  the  most  distinguished  exception. 
In  honor  of  his  righteousness  God  blessed  the  Jebusites 
beyond  other  of  the  doomed  nations,  in  that  they  were  per- 
mitted to  regain  their  stronghold  of  Zion  for  four  hundred 
years  after  the  entrance  of  Israel  upon  their  promised  pos- 
sessions. His  righteous  administration  was  long  remem- 
bered and  its  influence  long  felt.  Many  of  those  who  en- 
joyed his  instructions  and  his  priestly  intercessions  were 
probably  induced  to  lead  pious  lives,  and  thus  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God  was  long  retained  among  them. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  55 

Rahab,  who  hid  the  spies,  and  became  one  of  the  an- 
cestors of  the  world's  Redeemer,  was  a  believer  in  the 
one  only  living  and  true  God.  There'  were,  no  doubt, 
many  others,  but  the  mass  were  idolaters,  and  this  is 
why  the  race  has  felt  the  divine  displeasure.  But  the 
promise  is  that  princes  shall  come  out  of  Egypt,  and  that 
Ethiopia  shall  soon  stretch  forth  her  hands  unto  God. 
Whatever  shall  become  of  the  two  younger  sons  of  Ham, 
this  promise  assures  us  that  the  two  elder  sons  shall  cast 
aside  idolatry  and  return  unto  the  Lord.  That  this 
prophecy  is  now  in  the  course  of  fulfillment  the  Negro 
Church  stands  forth  as  unquestionable  evidence.  It  is 
the  streak  of  morning  light  which  betokens  the  com- 
ing day.  It  is  the  morning  star  which  precedes  the 
rising  sun.  It  is  the  harbinger  of  the  rising  glory  of 
the  sons  of  Ham.  It  is  the  first  fruit  of  the  countless 
millions  of  that  race  who  shall  be  found  in  the  army 
with  banners  in  the  millennial  glory  of  the  Christian 

Church. 
6 


56  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 


CHAPTER  III. 

PARTICULAR  ACCOUNT  OF   THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  ZION  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA. 

We  shall  divide  this  part  of  the  history  into  three 
periods : 

i.  The  Formation  Period  of Twenty-five  Years,  from  1796, 
at  which  time  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  was  formed  in  New  York  city,  to  1 82 1 ,  at  which 
time  the  itinerant  system  was  fully  established. 

2 .  The  Developing  Period  of  Forty-two  Years,  from  1 82 1 
to  1863,  the  period  at  which  the  way  was  opened  for  the 
extension  of  the  connection  into  the  Southland. 

3.  The  Flourishing  Period  of  Thirty-three  Years,  1863 
to  1896,  during- which  period  the  membership  increased 
from  about  five  thousand  to  nearly  half  a  million. 

SECTION    FIRST. 

The  Formation  Period  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  in  America — Twenty-five  Years,  1796 
to  1 82 1. 

The  body  of  believers  now  known  by  this  title  was 
formed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  State  of  New  York,  in 
the  year  A.  D.  1796.  Its  title  at  its  organization  was 
"The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  Under 
this  title  it  was  incorporated  in  the  year  1 80 1 .  The  first 
church,  at  the  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  Streets,  was 
built  the  same  year.     This  church  was  called  Zion,  hence 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  57 

the  connection  which  grew  out  of  this  organization  came 
to  be  called  Zion,  and  for  reasons  we  shall  mention  here- 
after Zion  was  finally  incorporated  as  a  part  of  the  legat 
title. 

While  as  an  organization  separate  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  it  dates  only  back  to  1796,  yet  the 
existence  of  its  nucleus  as  class  or  classes,  in  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  dates  very  much  further  back. 

We  see  in  the  Minutes  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Con- 
ferences that  the  colored  members  met  by  themselves  to 
hold  class  and  prayer  meetings  as  early  as  1780,  and  that 
occasionally  Mr.  Asbury,  or  some  one  appointed  by  him, 
preached  at  the  meetings. 

The  major  part  of  those  who  first  formed  the  Zion 
Church  had  long  been  members  of  the  John  Street  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  the  parent  church  of  that  connec- 
tion ;  some  of  them  had  been  members  of  that  church  from 
its  beginning.  When  these  became  a  considerable  num- 
ber they  were  permitted  to  hold  meetings  by  themselves 
in  the  interval  of  the  regular  services.  These  meetings 
were  regarded  as  prayer  meetings,  but  the  leaders  fre- 
quently gave  exhortations — in  fact,  did  such  preaching 
as  their  abilities  permitted.  Hence  when  the  separate 
organization  was  formed  there  was  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  the  brethren  who  were  quite  proficient  speakers ; 
some  of  these  were  regularly  licensed  to  exhort,  and  some 
to  preach,  even  before  the  separate  organization  was 
formed. 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  seen  that  the  founders  of  Zion 
Church  as  a  body  of  Christian  believers  had  an  existence 
nearly  as  early  as  the  formation  of  the  John  Street  Church. 


58  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

:Susan  Williams  and  her  husband,  Samuel  Williams,  were 
members  of  John  Street  Church  from  the  time  that 
church  was  first  erected.  If  therefore  we  should  date  our 
Church  from  the  time  the  members,  as  a  body,  began  to 
hold  separate  meetings,  we  might  have  held  our  centen- 
nial celebration  as  early  as  1880.  But  the  objection  to 
this  is  that  the  meetings  were  held  in  the  name  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  true  date  is  the  period 
at  which  the  new  title  was  taken,  and  at  which  time  the 
meetings  began  to  be  held  without  any  regard  to  the 
authority  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  under  the 
new  organization. 

The  services  received  from  the  ministers  of  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  after  that  period  were  governed 
and  restricted  by  a  written  contract  entered  into  by  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  as  separate  organizations.  The  Zion 
Church  had  preachers  of  her  own,  called  of  God  to  preach, 
and  qualified  to  perform  all  ministerial  duties,  so  far  as 
Heaven's  authority  was  concerned.  There  are,  however, 
human  ceremonials  which  have  the  divine  sanction ; 
these  are  not  to  be  lightly  put  aside.  Such  was  the  sen- 
timent of  the  founders  of  Zion  Connection.  They  were 
unwilling  to  take  upon  themselves  the  peculiar  functions 
of  the  ministry  without  a  regular  ordination,  according 
to  the  forms  of  the  Church  from  which  they  sprang. 
Hoping  that  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  would  oblige  them  by  ordaining  some  of  their 
men,  and  thus  enable  them  to  carry  out  their  purpose  to 
evangelize  the  African  race  and  form  them  into  a  body 
like  the  mother  Church,  but  separate  from  it,  they  used 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  59 

every  possible  endeavor  to  maintain  friendly  relations 
with  that  Church.  To  maintain  this  friendly  relation 
with  that  Church  they  entered  into  a  contract  with  it  to 
supply  their  pulpit  and  administer  the  ordinances.  Their 
contract  starts  off  as  follows : 

"This  article  of  agreement  made  this  sixth  day  of  April,  1801,  between 
the  Rev.  John  McCloskey,  in  behalf  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  of  one  part,  and  the  trustees  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  of  the 
other  part,  showeth  for  themselves  and  their  successors  in  office,"  etc. 

This  contract  recognizes  Zion  Church  as  an  independ- 
ent body,  as  fully  competent  to  make  a  contract  as  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  itself. 

Under  this  contract  Zion  had  the  services  of  the  min- 
isters of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  about 
twenty  years.  It  is  remarkable  how  closely  she  followed 
in  the  footsteps  of  the  mother  Church  in  this  respect. 
That  Church  was  just  twenty  years  without  an  ordained 
ministry ;  the  first  Methodist  meeting  was  held  in  New 
York  in  1765,  the  first  ministers  were  ordained  in  1785. 
Mr.  Asbury  filled  the  position  of  general  superintendent 
(under  the  title  of  general  assistant)  for  several  years 
before  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry.  In  the  Minutes 
of  1779,  °f  the  Conference  held  in  Kent  County,  Del., 
we  find  the  following : 

"  Question  12.  Ought  not  Brother  Asbury  to  act  as  general  assistant  in 
America  ? 

"Answer.  He  ought :  first,  on  account  of  his  age;  second,  because  origi- 
nally appointed  by  Mr.  Wesley ;  third,  being  joined  with  Messrs.  Rankin 
and  Shadford,  by  express  order  from  Mr.  Wesley. 

"  Question  13.  How  far  shall  his  power  extend  ? 

"Answer.  On  hearing  every  preacher  for  and  against  what  is  in  debate, 
the  right  of  determination  shall  rest  with  him,  according  to  the  Minutes." 


60  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  ministers  generally  were  called  assistants  (to 
Wesley) ;  Asbury,  general  assistant.  In  the  Minutes  of 
the  Conference  held  in  Philadelphia  in  1773  we  find  the 
following : 

"  The  following  rules  were  agreed  to  by  all  the  preachers  present : 
"I.  Every  preacher  who  acts  in  connection  with  Mr.  Wesley  and  the 
brethren  who  labor  in  America  is  strictly  to  avoid  administering  the  ordi- 
nances of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"  2.  All  the  people  among  whom  we  labor  to  be  earnestly  exhorted  to 
attend  the  Church  [of  England]  and  receive  the  ordinances  there." 

Mr.  Wesley  had  authorized  these  men  to  preach,  but 
not  to  administer  the  ordinances,  and  this  rule  was  in 
keeping  with  his  views  and  instructions.  This  will 
appear  beyond  question  in  the  following  extract  of  a  let- 
ter which  accompanied  the  appointment  of  Coke  and 
Asbury  as  joint  superintendents : 

"Bristol,  September  10,   1784. 
"  To  Dr.    Coke,   Mr.  Asbury,    and  the    Brethren  in    North 
America  : 

"1.  By  a  very  uncommon  train  of  providences  many  of  the  provinces  of 
North  America  are  totally  disjoined  from  the  British  empire  and  erected 
into  independent  States.  The  English  government  has  no  authority  over 
them,  either  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  any  more  than  over  the  States  of  Holland. 

"  A  civil  authority  is  exercised  over  them,  partly  by  Congress  and  partly 
by  the  State  Assemblies.  But  no  one  exercises  or  claims  any  ecclesias- 
tical authority  at  all. 

"  In  this  peculiar  situation  some  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  of  these 
States  desire  my  advice  ;  and  in  compliance  with  their  desire  I  have  drawn 
up  a  little  sketch. 

"  2.  Lord  King's  account  of  the  primitive  Church  convinced  me  many 
years  ago  that  bishops  and  presbyters  are  the  same  order,  and  conse- 
quently have  the  same  right  to  ordain.  For  many  years  I  have  been  im- 
portuned from  time  to  time  to  exercise  this  right  by  ordaining  part  of  our 
traveling  preachers.  But  I  have  still  refused,  not  only  for  peace'  sake,  but 
because  I  was  determined  as  little  as  possible  to  violate  the  established 
order  of  the  national  Church  to  which  I  belonged. 

"3.  But  the  case  is  widely  different  between  England  and  North  Amer- 
ica.    Here  there  are  bishops  who  have  legal  jurisdiction  ;  in  America  there 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.  6 1 

are  none,  and  but  few  parish  ministers.  So  that  for  some  hundred  miles 
together  there  is  none  either  to  baptize  or  administer  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Here,  therefore,  my  scruples  are  at  an  end  ;  and  I  consider  myself  at  full 
liberty,  as  I  violate  no  order  and  invade  no  man's  right  by  appointing  and 
sending  laborers  into  the  harvest. 

"  4.  I  have  accordingly  appointed  Dr.  Coke  and  Mr.  Francis  Asbury  to 
be  joint  superintendents  over  our  brethren  in  North  America ;  as  also 
Richard  Whatcoat  and  Thomas  Vasey  to  act  as  elders  among  them  by 
baptizing  and  administering  the  Lord's  Supper. 

"  5.  If  anyone  will  point  out  a  more  scriptural  way  of  feeding  and  guiding 
those  poor  sheep  in  the  wilderness  I  will  gladly  embrace  it.  At  present  I 
cannot  see  any  better  method  than  that  I  have  taken. 

"6.  It  has  indeed  been  proposed  to  desire  the  English  bishops  to  ordain 
a  part  of  our  preachers  for  America,  but  to  this  I  object :  first,  I  desired  the 
Bishop  of  London  to  ordain  one  only,  but  could  not  prevail ;  second,  if 
they  consented,  we  know  the  slowness  of  their  proceedings,  but  the  mat- 
ter admits  of  no  delay ;  third,  if  they  would  ordain  them  now  they  would 
likewise  expect  to  govern  them,  and  how  grievously  would  this  entangle 
us  ;  fourth,  as  our  American  brethren  are  now  totally  disentangled  both 
from  the  State  and  from  the  English  hierarchy,  we  dare  not  entangle  them 
again  either  with  the  one  or  the  other.  They  are  now  at  full  liberty  simply 
to  follow  the  Scriptures  and  the  primitive  Church,  and  we  judge  it  best 
thatj  they  should  '  stand  fast  in  that  liberty  wherewith  God  has  so 
strangely  made  them  free.'  John  Wesley." 

From  this  it  is  seen  that  for  about  twenty  years  the 
preachers  were  laboring  without  holy  orders,  which  they 
had  sought  in  vain,  and  they  were  obliged  to  get  the 
sacrament  from  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  They 
had  finally  to  obtain  orders  in  an  extraordinary  way, 
a  way  which  some  have  questioned ;  but  nevertheless  the 
divine  blessing  has  been  upon  the  Church,  and  no  other 
Church  has  made  such  rapid  strides.  Likewise,  Zion 
had  her  struggle  of  a  little  more  than  twenty  years  to 
obtain  holy  orders  for  her  ministers.  She  finally  suc- 
ceeded, but  the  delay  was  a  sore  pullback,  and  was  the 
fruitful  source  of  the  division  in  the  African  Methodist 
Church. 


62  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  bishops  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  tell 
us  now  that  we  ought  to  be  united  in  one  body.  The 
fact  is,  their  predecessors  are  responsible  for  the  state  of 
things  which  they  deplore.  They  gave  to  our  fathers 
sour  grapes,  and  the  children's  teeth  are  on  edge.  If 
they  had  agreed  to  ordain  a  few  of  our  men  at  any  time 
before  the  year  1 8 1 3  there  would  have  been  one  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  of  which  old  Zion  would  have 
been  the  fountain  head.  Neither  Peter  Spencer  in  Wil- 
mington, nor  Richard  Allen  in  Philadelphia,  could  have 
been  tempted  to  set  up  a  rival  organization  to  one  fully 
equipped  and  authenticated  by  the  bishops  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  But  the  long  delay,  half  prom- 
ises, and  final  disappointments  to  which  the  Zion  people 
were  subjected  by  the  bishops  were  accepted  by  the  peo- 
ple in  Wilmington  and  Philadelphia  as  evidence  that 
nothing  was  to  be  expected  from  the  bishops,  and  they 
went  forward  and  made  their  own  ministers  in  their  own 
way,  or  as  best  they  could. 

First  of  all,  Peter  Spencer,  in  1813,  was  set  apart  by 
election  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  of  three  lay  elders, 
who  were  elected  to  that  office  for  that  special  purpose. 
In  this  they  claimed  that  they  were  following  the  primi- 
tive Church,  as  Wesley  did  when  he  appointed  Coke  and 
Asbury  to  be  joint  superintendents  in  America.  Three 
years  later  Richard  Allen  was  made  bishop  in  Philadelphia. 
We  have  no  undisputed  information  as  to  how  he  was 
ordained,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  hereafter. 

The  aggressiveness  of  Spencer  and  Allen,  especially 
the  latter,  compelled  the  Zion  people  to  renew  their  efforts 
to  obtain  ordination  by  the  bishops ;   the  efforts  ending 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.         63 

in  failure,  they  were  at  last  compelled  to  accept  the  offer 
of  friendly  clergymen  who  had  seceded  from  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  For  a  more  particular  account 
of  the  struggles  of  this  period  the  reader  is  referred  to 
The  Rise  and  Progress  of  Zion,  by  Bishop  C.  Rush,  and  the 
History  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  by 
Bishop  J.  J.  Moore,  D.D.  It  is  not  our  purpose  to  give 
more  than  an  outline  of  the  history  of  the  period  so  fully 
covered  by  them. 

The  matter  which  caused  a  schism  in  the  white  Church 
and  caused  some  to  secede  from  that  Church  was  re- 
garded by  the  Zion  people  as  sufficient  reason  for  putting  a 
period  to  the  agreement  by  which  the  white  ministers  had 
served  them,  and  the  authorities  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  were  informed  that  they  were  relieved  of 
the  trouble  of  providing  ministerial  services  any  longer. 
As  the  Zion  Church  had  been  recognized  as  an  inde- 
pendent body  from  the  date  of  its  incorporation,  and  as  this 
agreement  only  bound  the  parties  during  their  pleasure, 
there  was  no  question  as  to  the  right  of  Zion  to  terminate 
the  agreement.  As  the  minister  who  was  last  appointed 
from  the  Conference  was  among  the  seceders  they  were 
willing  that  he  should  finish  out  his  year,  not  as  an  ap- 
pointee of  the  bishop,  but  as  called  by  the  Church.  But 
the  time  had  evidently  come,  and  all  things  seemed  to 
combine  to  compel  the  colored  preachers  to  take  charge 
of  the  work  themselves.  The  people  were  clamoring 
for  it,  and  by  no  other  means  could  they  have  been  held 
together  had  there  been  longer  delay  in  qualifying  the 
preachers  by  ordination.  Abraham  Thompson,  James 
Varick,  and  Leven  Smith  were  the  first  three  who  were 


64  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

set  apart  to  the  office  of  elder,  having  been  previously 
ordained  deacons.  The  ordinations  were  performed  by 
Revs.  Dr.  James  Covel,  Sylvester  Hutchinson,  and  Wil- 
liam M.  Stilwell,  all  Methodist  ministers  in  good  standing. 
Dr.  Covel  acted  as  chairman  of  the  Bench  of  Elders. 
The  three  brethren  thus  set  apart  to  elders'  orders  pro- 
ceeded to  ordain  others. 

During  the  year  1820  churches  were  organized  in  New 
Haven  and  Philadelphia.  Leven  Smith  and  Christopher 
Rush  were  instrumental  in  effecting  the  organization  in 
New  Haven,  and  Abraham  Thompson  and  William  Mil- 
ler in  Philadelphia.  Having  passed  briefly  over  the  first 
period,  we  come  to  the  second. 

SECTION  SECOND. 
The  Developing  Period,  1821  to  1863. 

Having  previously  mentioned  the  ordination  of  the 
first  three  elders,  we  may  now  state  that  on  July  18, 
1822,  the  Annual  Conference  was  convened  in  extra 
session  in  the  city  of  New  York.  At  this  session,  on 
Sunday,  July  21,  Christopher  Rush,  James  Smith,  James 
Anderson,  William  Coleman,  Edward  Johnson,  and 
Tilmon  Cornish  were  ordained  deacons  in  the  morning 
and  elders  in  the  afternoon. 

The  work  of  development  from  this  time  went  forward 
with  considerable  rapidity  under  the  supervision  of  Right 
Rev.  James  Varick,  the  first  regularly  elected  bishop  of 
the  connection.  He  was  one  of  the  nine  official  mem- 
bers who  formed  the  Zion  Church  in  New  York  city  in 
1796.  He  was  the  leading  factor  in  that  movement  and 
in  all  succeeding  steps  leading  to  the  establishment  of  a 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         65 

successful  itinerant  system.  Like  Asbury,  he  served  as 
superintendent  before  he  had  received  holy  orders ;  he 
had  conducted  the  efforts  of  the  societies  successfully 
amid  great  difficulties,  and  had  shown  himself  equal  to 
every  emergency.  Hence,  when  he,  with  others,  received 
holy  orders  he  was  elected  as  first  among  his  peers  to 
superintend  the  connection.  He  served  till  his  death, 
in  1827. 

At  the  General  Conference  the  following  year,  1828, 
Christopher  Rush  was  elected  to  the  episcopal  office. 
Rush  was  possibly  the  ablest  colored  preacher  living  at 
the  time  he  was  made  bishop.* 

In  1829  the  Philadelphia  Annual  Conference  was  set 
off.  It  was  formally  organized  on  the  14th  of  June, 
1829,  in  Wesley  Church,  in  Lombard  Street,  Philadelphia. 
Those  who  composed  the  Conference  at  its  organization 
were  as  follows  :  Bishop,  Christopher  Rush  ;  elders, 
Edward  Johnson,  Durham  Stevens,  David  Stevens, 
George  Stevenson,  David  Crosby,  Jonathan  Gibbs, 
Arthur  Langford,  Tower  Hill,  John  Marshall,  Richard 
Phillips,  David  Smith,  Jacob  Richardson,  Samuel  John- 
son, Abraham  Green — fifteen  in  all;  delegates  from  the 
New  York  Conference,  Jacob  Matthews  and  Timothy 
Eato. 

The  roll  of  the  New  York  Conference  at  this  time  was 
as  follows :  Right  Rev.  Christopher  Rush,  Revs.  Timothy 
Eato,  Abraham  Thompson,  Charles  Anderson,  William 
Carman,  George  Tredwell,  William  Miller,  Leven  Smith, 
Jacob  Matthews,  Peter  Van  Hass,  Jehiel  Beaman.  The 
total  membership  was  about  two  thousand.  During  the 
*  See  Bishop  Moore's  History.    .  1 


66  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ten  years  from  1830  to  1840  the  following  were  added 
to  the  roll  of  the  ministry :  Charles  A.  Boyd,  Henry  John- 
son, William  H.  Bishop,  Hosea  Easton,  James  Simmons, 
Henry  Drayton,  David  Blake,  Adam  Ford,  Daniel  Van- 
devier,  Francis  P.  Graham,  John  W.  Lewis,  George  Gar- 
nett,  William  Fuller,  J.  H.  Williams;  William  Serring- 
ton,  John  A.  King,  John  Tappen,  John  Dungy,  Richard 
Noyee,  Peter  Ross,  John  Lyle,  John  P.  Thompson,  John 
Chester,  Nathan  Blunt,  John  N.  Mars,  J.  B.  Johnson, 
Thomas  James,  Edward  Bishop,  Thomas  Jackson,  Demp- 
sey  Kennedy,  William  Tilmon,  George  Washington, 
Benjamin  Simms,  W.  L.  Brown,  John  Wells,  Samuel 
Serrington,  George  A.  Spy  wood,  Jesse  Kemble,  Leonard 
Collins,  Bazel  McKall,  William  Jones,  John  Jackson, 
Abraham  Cole,  Samuel  T.  Gray,  William  McFarlan, 
Philip  Lum,  Shadrach  Golden,  Abraham  Miller. 

Of  this  group  of  ministers,  six  became  bishops,  namely, 
W.  H.  Bishop,  James  Simmons,  G.  A.  Spywood,  John 
Tappen,  Peter  Ross,  and  J.  P.  Thompson,  of  whom  a  more 
particular  account  will  be  found  in  Bishop  Moore's  His- 
tory .  Several  of  the  others  were  quite  distinguished  in 
their  day.  Rev.  S.  T.  Gray  was  a  most  remarkable  man  ; 
he  was  a  natural  born  orator ;  no  man  in  his  day  could 
work  an  audience  up  to  a  higher  state  of  enthusiasm  than 
he.  His  brethren  regarded  him  as  a  little  tricky,  but  it 
would  be  much  more  just  to  say  that  he  was  exceedingly 
well  equipped.  He  was  unmatched  in  debate,  he  was  a 
fine  logician  and  splendid  parliamentarian.  He  was  calm 
and  deliberate,  and  therefore  generally  master  of  the  sit- 
uation. Asa  preacher  there  was  no  man  in  his  day  who 
could  produce  a  greater  sensation.     He  was  also  a  very 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         6j 

successful  medical  doctor.  Rev.  Henry  Johnson,  better 
known  as  "  Old  Hickory,"  was  a  man  of  great  force  of 
character.  Rev.  John  A.  Williams  was  a  revivalist,  and 
always  kept  his  church  alive.  John  N.  Mars  was  a  man 
of  considerable  ability ;  he  was  among  the  early  antislav- 
ery  agitators,  and  during  the  late  war  was  commissioned 
as  a  chaplain  in  the  army.  Rev.  Thomas  James  was  more 
an  antislavery  lecturer  than  preacher,  and  yet  he  could 
preach ;  but  he  was  more  ready  to  fight  when  he  thought 
of  the  enormities  of  slavery.  He  held  a  position  in  con- 
nection with  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  about  the  close  of  the 
war,  in  which  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  fearlessness 
in  defending  the  rights  of  the  freedmen.  Dempsey  Ken- 
nedy was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  preachers  of  his 
time ;  his  discourses  were  seldom  taken  from  any  texts  in 
the  Bible,  but  from  his  observations  through  the  week  or  on 
his  way  to  church.  He  had  but  little  regard  for  the  rules 
of  grammar,  and  could  get  away  from  one  subject  and  on 
to  another  without  making  a  period ;  but  somehow  he 
could  interest  his  audience,  and  many  regarded  him  as  a 
great  preacher.  Like  most  of  the  Zion  preachers,  he  was 
also  a  great  abolitionist.  Rev.  Leonard  Collins  was  truly 
a  great  preacher  and  popular  pastor,  but  strong  drink 
destroyed  his  usefulness  and  brought  him  to  an  untimely 
grave.  He  is  mentioned  as  a  warning  to  those  who  have 
great  talents  to  beware  of  strong  drink.  "  Look  not 
upon  the  wine  when  it  is  red."  Bazel  McKall  was  not 
a  very  great  preacher,  but  was  a  good  and  upright  man ; 
he  lived  to  be  an  old  man,  loved  by  all  who  knew  him, 
and  was  useful  to  his  generations,  of  which  he  lived  to  see 
several  pass  away.     Abraham  Cole  was  a  great  preacher 


68  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

and  a  great  and  good  man.  Possibly  the  most  remark- 
able man  of  the  group  we  have  been  considering  was 
Rev.  David  Stevens ;  he  was  a  wonderful  preacher,  gen- 
erally calm  and  deliberate,  but  at  times  he  blazed  out 
and  carried  everything  as  by  storm.  He  also  became 
a  chaplain  in  the  army.  He  lived  to  see  more  than 
fourscore  years,  and  was  an  acceptable  preacher  till 
the  end. 

It  was  not  our  original  purpose  to  say  anything  of 
those  in  this  group  who  became  bishops,  as  we  had  the 
impression  that  Bishop  Moore  had  given  a  sketch  of 
the  history  of  each.  But  as  his  History  has  not  men- 
tioned the  following  we  think  at  least  a  short  sketch  is 
demanded : 

The  first  of  those  of  whom  Bishop  Moore  had  nothing 
to  say  was  Bishop  G.  A.  Spywood,  who  was  made  bishop 
in  1852  (a  period  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
hereafter).  Bishop  Spywood  was  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary force  of  character ;  he  had  a  happy  blending  of  the 
Indian  and  the  African ;  he  had  the  veneration  of  the 
African  united  with  the  reckless  daring  of  the  Indian, 
which  made  him  every  inch  a  man ;  he  was  rigidly  hon- 
est, and  feared  none  but  his  Maker.  He  was  retired 
from  the  bishopric  in  1856  because  there  were  more 
bishops  than  could  be  used  to  advantage.  For  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  he  was  employed  as  agent  of  the 
New  England  Mission  Board,  in  which  position  he  had 
very  great  success — far  beyond  that  of  anyone  who  has 
succeeded  him. 

Next  to  him,  among  those  overlooked  by  Bishop  Moore, 
is  Bishop  Solomon  T.  Scott.     His  name  appears  on  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         69 

roll  of  the  members  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference  as 
early  as  1834.  He  was  distinguished  for  preaching  from 
metaphors.  The  announcement  that  he  would  preach 
his  fish  sermon  always  drew  a  crowd ;  and  it  is  possible 
that  this  was  the  first  sermon  of  a  Zion  minister  ever 
printed  in  pamphlet  form ;  and  though  it  was  read  by 
many,  yet  people  never  seemed  to  tire  of  hearing  it 
preached.  He  had  also  a  sailor's  sermon  from  the  text, 
Isa.  xxxiii,  23,  "Thy  tacklings  are  loosed;  they  could 
not  well  strengthen  their  mast;  they  could  not  spread 
the  sail :  then  is  the  prey  of  a  great  spoil  divided ;  the 
lame  take  the  prey."  This  sermon  was  especially  for 
sailors,  and  many  of  them  gathered  to  hear  him.  He  had 
also  an  antislavery  sermon,  intended  to  encourage  his 
people  to  help  fugitives  who  were  making  their  escape 
from  bondage.  He  was  regarded  as  a  great  preacher, 
had  a  very  gentle  and  humble  disposition,  and  seemed 
hardly  at  ease  in  the  bishopric.  The  period  of  his  bish- 
opric was  the  most  stormy  that  the  Church  has  known ; 
and  considering  his  peculiar  temperament  it  is  not  strange 
that  he  felt  deeply  the  responsibility  of  his  position.  He 
was  retired  in  i860. 

The  third  bishop  on  whose  history  Bishop  Moore  is 
silent  is  Bishop  Peter  Ross,  who  was  set  apart  to  the 
episcopal  office  in  i860.  We  find  his  name  on  the  roll  of 
members  present  at  the  New  York  Conference  in  1834; 
but  as  he  is  not  mentioned  among  those  who  joined  that 
year  we  conclude  that  he  joined  at  least  a  year  earlier. 
About  that  period  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.  He  succeeded  in  organizing  a  church  there, 
which  is  now  one  of  the  most  flourishing  churches  in  the 


JO  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

New  England  Conference.  He  was  also  sent  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  Halifax,  N.'S.  During  his  ministry  he  filled 
the  pulpits  of  some  of  the  most  important  churches  in  the 
East,  old  Zion  included.  He  was  a  man  of  great  force 
of  character,  pure  and  upright ;  he  was  a  forcible  and 
logical  preacher.  He  lived  to  a  good  old  age  and  was 
respected  by  all  who  knew  him. 

From  the  year  1828  to  1840  Rush  had  filled  the  epis- 
copal office  alone,  and  had  filled  it  well.  Every  year 
there  was  an  increase  of  members,  ministers,  and 
churches ;  new  territory  was  occupied,  and  the  connec- 
tion increased  in  strength  and  influence  continually. 
But  at  the  General  Conference  in  1840  a  disturbing  ele- 
ment was  introduced,  which  culminated  twelve  years 
later  in  a  split  in  the  connection,  which  lasted  for  eight 
years.  This  element  was  the  idea  of  an  assistant  super- 
intendent. Not  that  Rush  needed  an  assistant  at  that 
time  (for  the  assistant  never  held  a  Conference  nor  per- 
formed an  ordination),  but  to  satisfy  the  ambition  of  one 
man  and  his  friends. 

Rev.  William  Miller  was  the  senior  elder,  and  was  am- 
bitious to  fill  the  highest  position.  Miller  was  one  of 
that  class  of  men  that  must  have  what  they  want  or  they 
will  make  trouble.  He  was  of  a  peculiar  make-up,  a 
mixture  of  splendid  parts  united  with  some  remarkably 
weak  ones.  He  was  unstable,  and  required  to  be  hu- 
mored and  petted  to  be  kept  in  the  harness.  About  181 3 
he  was  a  deacon  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
doing  all  he  could  to  injure  Zion.  At  a  little  later  period 
he,  with  the  Asbury  Church,  united  with  Zion;  about 
1820  he,  with  Asbury  Church,  united  with  Bishop  Allen, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  7 1 

and  thus  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  Bethel 
Church  in  New  York.  About  1830  he  returned  to  Zion 
with  a  fragment  of  the  Asbury  Church.  He  was  a 
prominent  example  of  that  class  of  ministers  who  find 
it  hard  work  to  determine  just  where  they  rightly  be- 
long ;  yet  for  all  that  he  was  a  good  preacher,  and  his 
influence  was  not  to  be  despised.  While  we  think  the 
brethren  made  a  mistake  in  making  him  assistant  super- 
intendent, yet  it  is  possible  that  we  would  have  done  no 
better.  They  could  not  trust  him  with  the  reins  of 
government,  but  satisfied  his  ambition  to  some  extent 
by  associating  him  with  Father  Rush  as  his  assistant. 
The  tejrjnjwas^easily  borrowed  from  the  relation  Asbury 
once  held  as  assistant  to  Wesley.  Bishop  Miller  died 
in  1846,  but  the  work  went  on  under  Rush's  care  as 
though  nothing  had  happened. 

In  1848  Rev.  George  Galbreth  was  elected  to  the  epis- 
copal office ;  some  were  in  favor  of  making  him  a  full 
bishop,  but  the  majority,  influenced  by  the  bad  example 
set  in  1 840,  voted  that  he  should  be  only  assistant.  The 
minority,  however,  was  strong  and  active,  and  by  the 
sitting  of  the  General  Conference  in  1852  they  were  pre- 
pared to  carry  their  point.  They  determined  to  elect 
bishops  on  equality ;  the  program  with  some,  however, 
included  the  retiring  of  Father  Rush,  who  was  both 
feeble  and  blind.  Some  were  opposed  to  this  part  of 
it,  but  it  was  finally  carried  out,  and  George  Galbreth, 
William  H.  Bishop,  and  George  A.  Spy  wood  were  elected 
on  equality.  There  was  something,  however,  connected 
with  the  election  of  these  three  men  .  that  all  did  not 
fully  understand.     We  have  the  impression  that  some- 

7 


72  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

thing  was  kept  from  the  knowledge  of  Father  Rush, 
and  to  keep  it  securely  from  him  a  few  others  had  to  be 
hoodwinked. 

Possibly  all  would  have  gone  smoothly  if  Galbreth 
had  lived,  but  he  died  in  1853,  and  then  trouble  began. 
It  was  reported  that  Bishop  Bishop  had  declared  himself 
the  general  superintendent.  Some  wanted  him  to  main- 
tain this  position,  while  others  wanted  him  to  adhere 
to  their  understanding  of  the  action  of  the  General 
Conference  that  all  of  the  bishops  were  on  equality. 
Finding  that  there  would  be  trouble,  no  matter  which 
position  he  took,  he  simply  said,  "  I  am  all  that  the  Dis- 
cipline makes  me."  This  satisfied  one  party,  but  not 
the  other ;  hence  he  was  called  to  trial  by  the  dissatisfied 
party.  He  evaded  trial,  and  therefore  was  declared  sus- 
pended. 

This  action  caused  a  split  in  the  connection.  Those 
adhering  to  the  suspended  bishop  held  the  territory  gen- 
erally from  Philadelphia  south  and  westward,  and  were 
called  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The 
others  held  the  most  of  New  York,  New  England,  and 
Nova  Scotia,  and  were  called  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.  The  East  had  the  larger  number  of  able 
men,  but  the  West  was  more  compact.  The  East,  af- 
fected by  Congregationalism,  was  in  favor  of  a  general 
and  assistant  superintendent,  elected  once  in  four  years, 
as  the  President  and  Vice  President  of  the  United  States 
are.  In  the  West  the  idea  of  Episcopalianism  prevailed. 
There  was  a  little  mixture  of  sentiment  in  both  sections, 
but  there  was  a  stronger  minority  in  the  East  in  favor 
of    Episcopalianism  than  that  in  the  West  in   favor  of 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.  73 

Congregationalism,  or  a  merely  elective  superintendency. 
This  fact  had  much  to  do  with  bringing  about  the  re- 
union after  eight  years  of  strife,  with  all  its  attending 
evils. 

The  following  court  decision  in  a  legal  contest  between 
the  parties  during  the  division  is  possibly  the  fairest 
presentation  of  the  issue  that  we  can  give.  Both  sides 
were  well  represented,  and  the  presumption  is  that  each 
did  its  best  in  presenting  its  case.  It  is  evident  that 
the  court  held  that  Bishop  was  technically  in  the  wrong. 
The  point  most  against  him  was  the  changing  of  the  title, 
striking  out ' '  African ' '  and  inserting  ' '  Wesleyan . ' '  This, 
as  the  court  intimated,  stamped  him  as  a  seceder,  and 
as  such,  no  matter  how  large  his  majority,  he  could  not 
take  the  Church  property.  This  decision  also  tended 
to  hasten  the  reunion.  The  fact  that  it  went  against 
the  stronger  party  induced  it  to  accept  more  readily 
the  overtures  which  were  made  by  the  weaker  side, 
which  was  more  ready  to  offer  terms.  But  we  leave 
the  reader  with  the  foregoing  hints  to  form  his  own 
judgment  from  the  record. 

"  '  BUY   THE   TRUTH   AND    SELL   IT   NOT.' 

"  With  no  small  degree  of  satisfaction  the  following  decision  is  pre- 
sented to  all  who  feel  interested  in  the  affairs  of  our  Church,  which  has 
been  hindered  much  in  its  progress  on  account  of  the  pending  difficulty 
that  has  existed  since  1852  until  now.  Every  effort  that  has  been  made 
to  adjust  the  difficulty  having  been  before  the  public,  therefore  we  feel 
obligated  to  make  public  the  result  of  another  investigation,  emanating 
from  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  Williamsport,  Lycoming  County,  Pa., 
of  a  recent  lawsuit  of  one  of  our  churches  there.  Further  preliminaries 
on  the  subject  are  not  necessary,  as  the  following  decision  and  charge  of 
the  judge  to  the  jury  contain  all  that  is  necessary  to  satisfy  an  unbiased 
mind.  S.  M.  Giles. 


74  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

"  IN   THE   COURT    OF   COMMON    PLEAS,    HON.    A.    JORDAN,   JUDGE. 

"  George  Johnson,  Ferdinand  Capes,  and  Anthony  Stokes,  Trustees  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 

vs. 

Isaac  Coleman,  Lewis  Hill,  David   Thomas,  Joseph  Davis,  Isaac  Lloyd, 
James  Sherman,  George  Roach,  and  Isaac  Thompson. 
"  Counsel  for  plaintiffs,  Messrs.  Dietrick  and  Scates  ;  counsel  for  defend- 
ants, Messrs.  Armstrong,  Campbell,  and  Emery. 

"  CHARGE. 

"  Of  all  the  disputes  that  arise  those  which  arise  among  the  professing 
Christians  are  most  to  be  deplored,  and  are  the  bitterest.  Strange  as  it 
may  appear,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  these  disputes  are  more  difficult 
to  arrange  among  the  disputants  than  any  other,  and  perhaps  more  difficult 
to  adjust,  rightly  and  justly,  before  a  court  and  jury.  Each  Church  has  its 
own  peculiar  form  of  government,  its  Discipline  and  creed.  They  are  usually 
governed  by  a  Constitution,  each  of  its  members  either  expressly  or  im- 
plicitly engaging  to  be  bound  by  it.  It  is  necessary  for  the  good  govern- 
ment of  all  religious  organizations  that  there  should  be  a  form  of  govern- 
ment, without  which  it  would  not  only  be  difficult,  but  perhaps  impossible, 
to  keep  the  members  together  for  any  length  of  time. 

"  The  parties  to  this  action  all  profess  to  belong  to  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  the  United  States.  They  are  not  disputing  as 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  the  form  of  worship,  or  the  Constitution  or 
Discipline  by  which  the  Church  is  to  be  governed.  The  dispute  is,  who 
has  the  right  to  the  possession  of  the  church  in  this  place,  or  had  at  the 
time  of  the  alleged  trespass?  If  that  right  was  in  the  plaintiffs  at  the 
time  they  would  be  entitled  to  your  verdict.  The  action  is  not  brought  to 
recover  damages  so  much  as  to  determine  the  right  to  the  property,  which, 
under  the  pleadings  in  this  action,  may  be  done. 

"  The  suit  is  brought  in  the  names  of  George  Johnson,  Ferdinand  Capes, 
and  Anthony  Stokes,  trustees  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  Williarnsport.  Their  election  as  trustees  was  proven  by  the 
minute  book  of  the  church. 

"  The  property  in  dispute  was  conveyed  by  Abraham  Updegraff  and  wife 
to  George  Johnson,  Ferdinand  Capes,  and  David  Thomas,  trustees  of  the 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  Williarnsport,  by  deed,  dated 
on  the  21st  of  June,  1854.  Both  parties  claim  under  this  deed.  To  determine 
which  of  these  parties  is  entitled  to  hold  the  property  it  will  be  necessary 
to  examine  the  proceedings  of  their  Conferences,  with  a  view  of  ascertain- 
ing whether  Mr.  Coleman,  the  preacher  recognized  by  the  defendants  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.  75 

other  members  of  the  church,  was  properly  and  duly  elected  and  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  and  oversight  of  this  church.  He,  as  well  as  his 
predecessors  from  the  first  organization  of  the  church  in  this  place,  was 
appointed  by  the  Philadelphia  Conference.  The  right  of  this  Conference 
to  appoint  was  not  disputed  for  some  time,  but  the  acts  of  that  body  were 
recognized  as  binding  and  were  submitted  to.  In  June,  1852,  a  General 
Conference  met  in  Philadelphia.  At  that  Conference  a  question  arose 
whether  a  general  superintendent  should  be  elected  in  Committee  of  the 
Whole  or  General  Conference.  At  that  Conference  it  was  concluded  to 
elect  a  general  superintendent  and  an  assistant  superintendent  in  Com- 
mittee of  the  Whole,  which,  it  is  said,  was  contrary  to  the  Discipline  and 
Constitution  which  had  been  adopted  for  the  government  of  the  Church. 

"  At  that  time  Christopher  Rush,  the  old  gentleman  who  appeared  on  the 
stand  as  a  witness,  was  general  superintendent,  and  had  been  for  some 
years  before,  and  George  Galbreth  the  assistant  superintendent.  Mr. 
Rush  was  at  that  time  nearly  blind,  and  wished  to  resign  his  position,  that 
another  might  be  elected  in  his  place.  A  committee  was  appointed  to 
name  superintendents.  They  reported  the  names  of  Rush  and  Galbreth, 
and  Galbreth  was  elected  over  Rush.  A  question  arose  then  as  to  the 
proper  mode  of  electing  these  officers.  The  provision  in  the  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline is  that  the  superintendents  were  to  be  elected  in  a  General  Con- 
ference, not  in  Committee  of  the  Whole.  It  was  concluded  that  he  must 
be  elected  according  to  the  Book  of  Discipline.  A  General  Conference 
was  then  entered  into,  a  committee  was  appointed,  who  named  James  Sim- 
mons and  William  H.  Bishop.  Simmons  resigned  or  declined  an  election, 
and  Mr.  Scott  was  named  as  the  opposing  candidate  to  Bishop.  Bishop 
was  elected  over  Scott  for  four  years.  Galbreth  was  elected  assistant 
superintendent.  Galbreth  became  dissatisfied,  and  a  motion  was  made  to 
have  three  superintendents  on  equal  footing.  The  Book  of  Discipline  pro- 
vides for  the  election  of  two  superintendents — one  of  them  a  general 
superintendent  and  one  assistant  superintendent.  Bishop  then  put  a 
motion,  and  a  third  superintendent  was  elected,  namely,  Spywood.  Sub- 
sequently Bishop,  Galbreth,  and  Spywood  made  an  agreement  among 
themselves,  splitting  up  the  connection,  which  the  witness  states  they  had 
no  right  to  do. 

"  Also,  after  the  election  of  these  three  superintendents  the  Philadelphia 
Conference  issued  a  circular  to  change  the  word  '  African  '  and  insert  the 
word  '  Wesleyan.'  The  Quarterly  Conference  refused  to  receive  the  circu- 
lars, because  they  thought  the  General  Conference  had  taken  away  the 
rights  of  the  people.  The  Conferences  would  not  receive  the  change  at  all. 
Bishop  was  recognized  as  the  general  superintendent,  and  Galbreth 
assistant. 

"  Bishop  went  on  and  held  a  Conference  at  Ithaca.     Galbreth  held  one 


j6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  Pittsburg,  and  called  it  the  Wesleyan  Conference.  A  charge  was  pre- 
ferred against  Bishop  for  permitting  it  to  be  called  by  that  name.  A  copy 
of  the  charges  was  given  to  him.  In  the  meantime  Galbreth  died.  Bishop 
appeared  at  the  Conference,  but  refused  to  submit  to  the  trial.  While 
Bishop  was  under  censure  he  held  a  Conference  at  Baltimore,  came  to 
Philadelphia,  and  held  one  there.  When  he  got  through  at  Philadelphia 
he  came  to  New  York  Conference.  He  then  wished  to  hold  that  Confer- 
ence without  submitting  to  be  tried  for  his  misconduct.  He  was  then 
informed  that  he  could  not  take  the  chair  until  he  was  tried.  The  Confer- 
ence proceeded  to  appoint  a  chairman  pro  tern.,  to  act  till  Bishop  was  tried. 
Bishop  refused  to  be  tried,  and  denied  their  right  to  try  him,  holding  that 
he  could  only  be  tried  by  a  General  Conference.  Whether  his  position 
was  correct  or  not  can  only  be  determined  by  referring  to  the  Constitution 
or  Book  of  Discipline.  He  was  tried  in  1853  and  expelled.  Before  he 
was  expelled  Bishop  made  a  motion  to  go  to  Williamsburg  ;  a  few  mem- 
bers of  the  New  York  Conference  went  with  him,  and  some  of  the  Genesee 
Conference  went  with  him,  and  four  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference. 

"  When  Bishop  was  expelled  a  convention  was  called  to  supply  the  va- 
cancy. This  convention  met  on  July  9,  1853.  All  the  elders  were  warned 
to  attend.  A  General  Conference  was  organized,  the  Book  of  Discipline 
adopted,  and  George  A.  Spywood  elected  general  superintendent,  and  John 
Tappan  assistant.  It  is  stated  by  one  of  the  witnesses  examined  that  the 
General  Conference  had  never  before  1852  elected  three  superintendents. 

"  The  Philadelphia  church  is  still  attached  to  the  General  Conference. 
Simmons  and  Scott  succeed  Spywood  and  Tappan. 

"  Mr.  Thompson  says  Bishop  was  never  superintendent  since  1853.  From 
the  state  of  facts  which  the  court  submits  to  you,  with  all  the  other  facts 
in  the  case,  was  Bishop,  after  his  expulsion  in  1853,  a  general  superin- 
tendent, having  the  right  to  act  as  such  ?  This  involves  an  inquiry  into 
the  regularity  of  the  proceedings  in  the  Philadelphia  Conference  when  three 
superintendents  were  elected,  and  the  subsequent  conduct  of  Bishop  in 
permitting  Galbreth  to  change  the  name  of  the  Conference,  the  charges 
preferred  against  him,  his  refusal  to  submit  to  a  trial  before  the  New  York 
Conference,  his  right  to  occupy  the  chair,  the  right  of  the  members  of  the 
Conference,  while  charges  were  pending  against  him,  to  prevent  him  sitting 
as  the  presiding  officer,  and  his  right  to  call  a  convention  or  Conference 
at  Williamsburg.  If  this  Conference  at  Williamsburg  was  held  without 
authority,  and  in  violation  of  the  Constitution  or  Discipline  of  the  Church, 
the  members  of  that  convention  departed  from  the  form  of  government 
of  the  Church,  and  cannot,  by  virtue  of  such  act,  claim  to  be  the  Church, 
no  matter  whether  they  were  a  majority  or  minority.  The  same  remarks 
apply  to  other  acts  enumerated  by  the  court. 

"  Which  of  these  parties,  the  plaintiffs  or  the  defendants,  adhere  to  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         J? 

doctrine  of  the  Church,  the  form  of  worship  practiced  in  the  Church,  and 
the  government  in  the  Church,  must  be  submitted  to  you,  with  instruction 
that  your  decision  should  be  in  favor  of  the  party  so- adhering,  and  having 
in  those  respects  the  regular  succession,  no  difference  whether  that  party 
be  in  the  majority  or  minority. 

"  Here  read  from  Book  of  Discipline  and  Doctrine,  Section  4,  Art.  IV, 
PP-  35-  36;  Art.  V,  p.  36;  Section  11,  p.  53,  of  General  Conference;  p.  56, 
General  Superintendent ;  p.  57,  Assistant ;  p.  65,  Yearly  Conference. 

"  Mr.  Rush  was  the  General  Superintendent  of  the  Church  for  twenty-four 
years.  He  appointed  elders  for  Williamsport  Church.  The  Philadelphia 
church  formed  part  of  his  charge,  which  he  visited.  He,  wishing  to 
resign,  being  superintendent  in  1852,  Bishop  came  in  after  him.  The 
church  in  this  place  was  attached  to  the  Philadelphia  Conference. 

"  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  your  verdict  will  repair  the  troubles  that  exist  in 
this  breach  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  the  United 
States,  and  restore  peace  and  harmony  am^ng  the  members.  This  appears, 
to  be  the  desire  of  the  court.  We  are  sure  it  is  your  wish,  as  it  is  that  of 
the  court.  If  Bishop,  when  he  seceded  or  called  a  Conference  at  Wil- 
liamsburg, should  be  considered  as  acting  in  violation  of  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  and  was  properly  expelled,  then,  his  power  as  general 
superintendent  having  ceased,  he  could  not  confer  power  upon  others  to 
officiate  in  the  Church." 

During  the  year  1858  the  subject  of  the  union  of  the 
two  factions  was  uppermost  in  the  minds  and  conver- 
sation of  both  ministers  and  members  on  both  sides. 
Union  sermons  were  preached  and  union  meetings  were 
held.  No  one  could  give  a  good  reason  for  the  split  nor 
for  the  continuation  of  it.  If  William  H.  Bishop  had 
met  his  accusers  when  he  was  called  to  trial  it  is  not 
likely  that  he  would  have  been  expelled  or  suspended. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  treatment  he  received  was  hasty 
and  ill-advised.  The  stubbornness  of  one  man  and  the 
haste  of  a  few  others  were  about  all  there  was  in  it. 
But  that  one  man  had  his  followers,  while  nearly  an 
equal  number  were  against  him ;  and  between  them 
they  had  kept  the  Church  in  confusion.  A  few  deter- 
mined men,  however,  made  up  their  minds  that  the  farce 


78  ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 

had  gone  on  long  enough,  and  they  took  steps  to  put  a 
period  to  it. 

A  convention  of  leading  men  from  each  faction  met 
in  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  and  adopted  a  platform  for  the 
reunion,  which  was  presented  to  the  General  Conference 
of  the  Bishop  party  which  met  in  Philadelphia  on  the 
25th  day  of  May,  i860.  Old  Zion  Church  was  taken 
into  the  confidence  of  the  movers  in  this  matter 
through  her  pastor,  and  she  was  induced  to  say  that 
she  would  not  support  either  faction  unless  they  united. 
This  induced  the  Bishop  faction  to  be  reasonable,  in  the 
hope  of  getting  that  Church  in  case  they  failed  to  unite. 
It  had  also  a  good  effect  upon  the  Rush  faction,  and  we 
have  no  doubt  it  had  very  much  to  do  with  the  reunion. 
The  delegates  from  the  Newburg  convention  were,  on 
motion  of  Rev.  S.  D.  Talbot,  seated  as  honorary  members 
of  the  General  Conference  in  Philadelphia ;  and  the  me- 
morial which  they  presented  was  made  the  special  order 
for  the  next  morning.  The  entire  day  (Thursday,  May 
31)  was  taken  up  in  discussing  the  memorial,  without 
reaching  a  conclusion.  On  Friday,  June  1,  Rev.  S.  T. 
Gray,  M.D.,  arrived  with  credentials  from  the  officers  of 
old  Zion  Church,  and  a  letter  informing  the  General 
Conference  that  it  could  meet  and  hold  its  sessions  in 
that  church  on  and  after  the  6th  of  June,  provided 
there  should  be  no  interference  with  local  matters.  As 
the  other  faction  had  appointed  to  meet  at  that  time  and 
place,  this  was  a  reminder  that  they  had  been  acting  like 
spoiled  children  and  bickering  long  enough,  and  that  the 
mother  wanted  them  to  come  home  and  behave  them- 
selves. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.         79 

Dr.  Gray,  with  his  papers,  was  received.  The  ques- 
tion of  union  was  resumed,  and  the  memorial  prepared 
by  the  Newburg  convention  was  finally  adopted.  It  was 
also  agreed  to  accept  the  invitation  to  meet  the  other 
faction  in  New  York  on  the  6th  of  June.  Nothing  but 
routine  business  was  transacted  by  this  faction  of  the 
General  Conference  during  the  remaining  three  days. 
Whatever  was  offered  in  the  way  of  legislation  was  re- 
ferred to  the  meeting  in  New  York. 

On  Wednesday,  June  6,  at  4  P.  M.,  the  two  factions 
met  in  old  Zion  Church,  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard 
Streets,  New  York  city,  according  to  agreement.  Super- 
intendents Bishop  and  Clinton  were  present;  Superin- 
tendents Simmons  and  Scott  did  not  appear.  Father 
Rush  soon  appeared,  however,  and  answered  for  Bishop 
Simmons,  who  had  been  taken  suddenly  ill.  Bishop 
Scott's  absence  could  not  be  accounted  for.  Nevertheless 
it  was  agreed  to  proceed.  All  were  so  anxious  for  the 
union  that  there  was  no  disposition  to  delay  because  the 
active  bishops  on  one  side  were  not  present.  The  basis 
of  union  prepared  by  the  convention  at  Newburg  was 
read,  as  follows: 

"Section  1.  Resolved,  That  all  matters  pertaining  to  former  difficulties 
be  laid  aside  forever. 

"  Section  1.  Resolved,  That  these  parties  agree  to  use  both  Books  of 
Discipline*  till  the  sitting  of  the  General  Conference  of  i860,  and  at  the 
assembling  of  the  General  Conference  to  proceed  to  organize  under  the 
Discipline  of  1851  ;  then  to  adopt  or  make  a  Discipline  suitable  to  the 
wants  of  the  people  or  connection. 

"  Section  3.  Resolved,  That  this  convention  recommend  the  General 
Conference  under  Right  Rev.  W.  H.  Bishop,  which  is  to  meet  in  Phila- 
delphia, May  30,  i860,  that  they  adjourn  to  meet  in  New  York,  at  Zion 
Church,  on  the  6th  day  of  June,  where  the  union  will  be  consummated. 

*  Both  parties  had  revised  the  Discipline  during  the  eight  years  they  had  been  separated. 


80  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

"  Section  4.  And  be  it  further  Resolved,  That  we  recommend  that  they 
defer  the  election  of  superintendents  and  revision  of  Discipline  till  the 
union  is  effected. 

"  Section  5.  Resolved,  That  we  cordially  invite  the  two  general  superin- 
tendents, with  their  assistants,  to  meet  the  adjourned  General  Conference 
to  reassemble  in  New  York  the  6th  day  of  June,  at  4  P.  M.,  to  assist  in 
consummating  the  union. 

"  Section  6.  Resolved,  That  nothing  in  the  foregoing  basis  be  so  con- 
strued as  to  interfere  with  privileges  of  any  of  the  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference. 

"  Section  7.  Resolved,  That  as  a  convention  we  stand  united  on  the  fore- 
going basis." 

This  was,  on  motion,  received  and  adopted.  The 
members  of  the  convention  which  had  thus  brought 
about  the  reunion  arose  and  embraced  each  other  in  a 
most  affectionate  manner,  and  the  entire  body  did  like- 
wise. Sincere  rejoicing,  mingled  with  songs,  followed 
for  several  minutes,  after  which  the  Conference  ad- 
journed, to  meet  the  following  morning. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  1858,  with 
such  revision  as  the  wants  of  the  connection  demanded, 
be  adopted.  On  motion  of  Dr.  Gray,  the  words  "  assist- 
ant superintendent "  were  ordered  stricken  out  of  the 
Discipline  wherever  they  appeared.  This  had  been  the 
bone  of  contention  for  years,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  out 
of  the  way  there  was  nothing  to  prevent  a  more  perfect 
union  than  the  Church  had  known  for  twenty  years. 

On  proceeding  to  the  election  of  bishops  for  the 
reunited  body  Revs.  Peter  Ross  and  J.  J.  Clinton  were 
elected  in  the  order  named.  After  their  election  the 
Committee  on  Districts  went  out  to  assign  the  bishops 
to  their  fields,  and  on  returning  reported  three  districts 
instead  of  two.  It  was  generally  understood  that  this 
was  done  in  the  interest  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Bishop;  but  as 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         8 1 

all  desired  harmony  and  good  feeling  he  was  elected 
with  but  little  opposition. 

This,  however,  proved  disastrous  to  Bishop  Ross,  for 
after  a  struggle  of  nearly  three  years  he  was  compelled  to 
resign  through  lack  of  support.  The  arrangement  was 
that  the  bishops  were  to  rotate  at  the  end  of  two  years ;  but 
for  the  first  two  years  Bishop  Ross  was  appointed  to  a 
district  on  which  both  of  the  other  bishops  had  traveled 
before,  and  both  claimed  back  salary,  and  the  General 
Conference  permitted  them  to  go  back  and  get  what  they 
could.  Two  other  bishops  having  full  sweep  on  Ross's 
district  (he  a  stranger  and  they  both  well  acquainted) 
made  a  poor  chance  for  Ross.  When  he  came  to  change 
two  years  later,  he  found  his  new  field  gleaned,  and  no  hope 
of  raising  more  than  traveling  expenses  for  nearly  twelve 
months.  It  soon  became  evident  that  there  was  nothing 
for  him  but  to  resign,  which  he  did.  Some  may  think 
that  it  was  an  awkward  fix  to  put  him  in.  That  is  true, 
but  in  those  days  some  ministers  were  not  averse  to  put- 
ting a  bishop  in  an  awkward  fix  when  they  wanted  to  kill 
him  off.  Ross  was  used  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  two 
factions  together,  but  he  had  opponents  who  were  ready 
to  cut  the  ground  from  under  him,  and  they  succeeded  in 
doing  it. 

Ross  was  a  great  and  good  man.  As  a  pastor  he  was 
unsurpassed  among  his  companions,  but  he  had  not  the 
peculiar  qualities  for  a  bishop.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  five  others,  who  were  elected  during  the  eight  years 
of  strife.  Spywood,  Tappan,  Henderson,  Scott,  and 
Simmons  were  all  good  preachers  and  strong  men,  and 
would  always  have  appeared  to  advantage  if  they  had 


82  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

never  been  elected  to  the  episcopal  chair.  Their  weak- 
ness was  shown  by  placing  them  in  a  position  to  which 
they  were  unsuited.  The  bishops  who  have  distin- 
guished themselves  as  such  and  left  no  doubt  about  their 
call  to  that  office  were  Varick,  Rush,  Clinton,  and 
Jones. 

In  addition  to  those  ministers  already  mentioned  the 
following  were  enrolled  previous  to  the  close  of  this  period : 

New  York  Conference. — Wesley  Marshall,  Edward 
H.  Bishop,  Isaac  Coleman,  Jephtha  Barcroft,  Moses  Man- 
ning, Josiah  J.  Long,  John  G.  Erling,  Jacob  Jordan, 
William  H.  Decker,  Jacob  Thomas,  William  McFarland, 
Samuel  L.  Giles,  William  H.  Pitts,  Peter  Coster,  Noble 
L.  Johns,  William  R.  Brooks. 

New  England  Conference. — G.  H. Washington, Wil- 
liam F.  Butler,  Nathaniel  Stubbs,  John  Williams,  J.  W. 
Hood,  Henry  Dumpson,  Joseph  G.  Smith,  John  F.  Loyd, 
Clinton  Leonard,  Silas  A.  Mitchel,  Thomas  A.  Davis, 
Nelson  Turpin,  Thomas  Henson. 

Philadelphia  Conference. — J.  B.  Trusty,  H.  H. 
Blackson,  S.  T.  Jones,  Sampson  Talbot,  John  W.  Green, 
Thomas  Harris,  William  Young,  J.  J.  Moore,  George 
Johnson,  Jacob  Anderson. 

Allegheny  Conference. — Robert  A.  Gibson,  Robert 
Squirrell,  Isaac  Gasaway,  W.  Nelson  Williams,  Abraham 
Cole,  Daniel  B.  Matthews,  Joseph  Armstrong,  John  B. 
Cox,  Jeremiah  Bowman,  Joseph  Hicks,  Prince  G.  Lows, 
Isaac  J.  Whiting,  William  H.  Johnson,  William  Hamil- 
ton, Jehu  Holliday,  James  A.  Jones. 

Genesee  Conference. — Hezekiah  Butler,  Henry  Da- 
vis, R.  Johnson,  William   Sanford,   George    Bosly,    Jer- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         83 

min  W.  Loguen,  Shadrach  Golden,  John  Thomas,  J. 
Goodman,  William  A.  Cromwell,  Thomas  James,  Rich- 
ard Estepp,  James  H.  Smith,  Bazel  McKall. 

Southern  Conference. — R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  J.  D. 
Brooks,  William  T.  Biddle,  C.  J.  Carter,  Jacob  P. 
Hamer,  J.  A.  Williams,  Joseph  Sinclair,  W.  H.  Crof- 
ford. 

It  will  be  seen  that  at  the  end  of  this  second  period 
there  were  six  Annual  Conferences,  and  there  had 
been  received  into  the  itinerancy  in  all  197  minis- 
ters. The  several  rolls  show  226,  but  29  names  were 
duplicated  by  transfer.  The  connection  occupied  only 
portions  of  the  Middle  and'  Eastern  States.  Of  the 
entire  number  of  ministers  who  had  been  received  into 
the  connection  ninety-two  were  still  living  and  in  active 
service  at  the  close  of  this  period.  Of  the  founders  Father 
Rush  alone  remained.  A  few  had  withdrawn  and  were 
at  work  in  other  denominations.  Among  the  most  prom- 
inent of  these  were  the  following:  John  N.  Mars,  who 
left  and  returned  and  finally  left  again.  He  was  much 
more  an  antislavery  lecturer  than  a  preacher ;  he  was  hard- 
ly a  success  as  a  pastor.  The  occasion  of  his  leaving  does 
not  appear ;  but  he  left  in  an  honorable  way  and  retained 
the  respect  of  his  brethren.  Nelson  Turpin  also  left 
and  returned  and  finally  left  again.  Thomas  Henson 
went  to  the  Baptist  Church,  because  he  believed  in  dip- 
ping, but  always  retained  a  friendly  feeling  toward  the 
Church  in  which  he  embraced  religion,  as  we  shall  have 
occasion  to  mention  later. 

One  remarkable  thing  about  this  period  is  that  there 
were  very  few  expulsions ;  a  few  are  recorded,  but  they 


84  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

were  exceptions.  As  a  rule  the  answer  to  the  question, 
"  Who  have  been  expelled?  "  was,  "  None."  There 
was,  however,  very  great  care  taken  in  receiving  per- 
sons into  the  ministry.  The  fathers  in  this  respect 
did  better  than  their  children  are  doing.  In  those  days 
preachers  attended  Conference  several  years  before  they 
were  taken  in.  They  attended,  sat  in  silence  and  looked 
on,  but  were  not  permitted  to  take  any  part  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. They  assisted  the  preachers  in  charge  until 
an  opportunity  opened  for  them  to  work  up  a  society 
somewhere,  and  then,  having  evidenced  their  usefulness, 
they  were  received. 

The  ministers  of  that  period  were,  as  a  rule,  good 
preachers ;  few  of  them  were  what  would  be  called  bril- 
liant men,  but  a  large  portion  of  them  could  preach  a 
good,  sensible  sermon.  Some  were  powerful,  awakening 
preachers ;  sinners  could  not  listen  without  being  affected 
to  such  a  degree  that  it  was  impossible  for  them  to  hide  it. 
Rev.  Samuel  L.  Giles  was  a  reasoner  of  great  force ;  his 
sermons  were  well  arranged,  logical,  and  forcible.  They 
were  generally  laid  off  in  from  three  to  five  general  divi- 
sions, with  a  larger  number  of  subdivisions,  and  his  en- 
tire discourse  would  have  looked  well  in  print.  He  and 
Dr.  Gray  were  our  theological  instructors.  Giles  ad- 
vised us  how  to  behave ;  he  taught  us  when  we  went 
to  Conference  to  take  a  back  seat  and  keep  quiet.  As 
a  preacher  and  deacon  he  taught  us  to  listen  to  the 
elders.  If  a  deacon  or  preacher,  even  in  full  connection, 
had  claimed  the  floor  when  an  elder  desired  to  speak,  he 
would  have  received  a  rebuke  that  he  would  never  have 
forgotten.     There  were  ministers  then  who  were  neither 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         85 

greatly  endowed  nor  well  cultured,  but  who  had  pecu- 
liarities by  which  they  accomplished  wonders.  The 
Church,  as  a  whole,  was  a  power  for  good. 

The  Conferences  held  long  sessions;  they  were  the 
only  theological  institutes  the  ministers  had  in  those 
days;  they  generally  spent  nearly  two  weeks  in  session. 
The  Conferences  were  not  held  with  open  doors  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Church,  but  gradually  the  churchmen, 
and  finally  the  public,  were  admitted.  The  ministers  in 
Zion  Church,  almost  from  its  organization,  were  more 
liberal  toward  the  laity  than  any  other  branch  of  the 
Episcopal  Methodist  Church.  The  laity  were  admitted 
to  representation  in  the  Annual  and  General  Conferences 
as  early  as  185 1. 

SECTION    THIRD. 

The  Flourishing  Period,  1863  to  1896. 

At  the  close  of  the  preceding  period  we  had  6  Annual 
Conferences,  92  ministers,  and  about  5,000  members. 
At  this  time  there  was  a  call  from  the  South.  Old  Zion 
in  New  York  was  known  as  far  south  as  New  Orleans  as 
the  mother  of  African  Churches.  Quite  a  number  of  our 
members  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  were  originally  from 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  and  when  in  New  Berne  they  were 
members  of  Andrew  Chapel.  These  members  urged 
the  bishop  to  send  some  one  down  to  New  Berne  to  look 
after  our  people  there.  Finally,  Rev.  John  Williams 
was  appointed,  and  the  New  England  Conference  Mission 
Board  appropriated  fifty  dollars  to  send  him.  He,  how- 
ever, let  nearly  a  year  pass  before  he  had  the  courage  to 
start.      Meanwhile    the   bishop   became    impatient,    and 


86  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

about  the  25th  of  December,  1863,  he  appointed  Rev.  J. 
W.  Hood,  and  the  Mission  Board  appropriated  fifty  dol- 
lars more  to  send  him.  He  started  at  once,  taking  his 
family  as  far  as  Washington.  The  Chesapeake  Bay  was 
frozen,  and  he  could  not  get  through  till  near  the  middle 
of  January.  He  reached  New  Berne  on  the  20th  of  Jan- 
uary, 1864.  The  church,  numbering  about  four  hundred 
members,  accepted  his  service  and  agreed  to  unite  with 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church ;  they  had 
previously  been  connected  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South.  A  few  weeks  later  the  church  at  Beau- 
fort was  added.  The  Union  lines  then  extended  about 
fifteen  miles  westward  from  New  Berne ;  several  coun- 
try organizations  were  formed  between  New  Berne  and 
Beaufort.  About  the  1st  of  March  Rev.  John  Williams 
reached  New  Berne.  Finding  the  field'  at  New  Berne 
and  vicinity  occupied,  he  went  to  Roanoke  Island  and 
Washington,  N.  C,  and  was  received  by  the  churches 
at  those  points.  Early  in  the  month  of  May  Bishop 
Clinton  visited  New  Berne  and  ordained  William  Ryle 
and  Ellis  Lavender  as  deacons.  He  also  visited  Beau- 
fort and  ordained  Enoch  Wallace.  He  started  to  return 
to  Washington,  but  the  Confederates  recaptured  that 
town,  and  the  bishop  was  obliged  to  retreat.  New 
Berne  was  attacked  about  the  same  time,  but  the  Union 
forces  were  able  to  hold  it.  In  the  month  of  July  Dea- 
con David  Hill  was  sent  from  the  New  England  Con- 
ference and  took  charge  of  the  work  at  Beaufort.  After 
the  evacuation  of  Washington  the  refugees  from  that 
and  adjacent  places  formed  a  settlement  over  the  Trent 
River  from  New  Berne,  and  it  was  called  James  City. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         87 

Rev.  John  Williams  made  this  his  headquarters  and 
founded  two  or  three  churches  in  that  vicinity. 

About  the  middle  of  September  the  yellow  fever  be- 
came epidemic,  and  three  of  our  best  men  were  swept 
away,  namely,  Deacons  David  Hill,  William  Ryle,  and 
Enoch  Wallace. 

In  December,  1864,  the  North  Carolina  Conference 
was  organized ;  this  was  the  first  Afro- American  Confer- 
ence held  in  that  territory  over  which  the  Confederate 
flag  had  floated.  War  was  still  raging,  nevertheless 
Bishop  Clinton,  with  his  missionaries,  gathered  around  a 
stove  on  a  cold  winter  day  and  laid  the  foundation  for 
that  structure  which  towers  up  so  grandly  to-day.  The 
work  in  North  Carolina  is  the  great  central  force  in  Zion 
Connection.  Nine  of  our  large  Conferences  have  grown 
out  of  this  beginning  in  North  Carolina.  The  roll  of  this 
first  Conference  numbered  twelve,  including  the  bishop, 
as  follows:  Bishop,  Joseph  J.  Clinton;  elders,  John 
Williams,  Ellis  Lavender,  J.  W.  Hood,  E.  H.  Hill; 
deacons,  W.  J.  Moore,  H.  W.  Jones,  David  Gray,  Joseph 
Green,  Sampson  Copper,  Abel  Ferribee ;  preacher,  Amos 
York.  Hill  and  Lavender  were  ordained  elders  at  this 
Conference,  also  six  deacons.  In  anticipation  of  the  sur- 
render the  work  was  laid  off,  embracing  several  points 
then  within  the  Confederate  lines.  They  were  worked 
up  to,  however,  in  every  case  as  laid  out  but  two. 

During  the  latter  part  of  1864  Bishop  Clinton  estab- 
lished missions  in  Louisiana  and  Florida.  Rev.  Wilbur 
G.  Strong  was  the  first  missionary  sent  to  that  work. 
Brother  Strong  is  a  man  of  excellent  parts,  a  fine  scholar, 
and    generally  well  equipped,    and   he  had  very   great 


88  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

success,  especially  in  Alabama,  in  which  State  -the 
strength  of  the  Church  is  second  only  to  that  of  North 
Carolina. 

May  25,  1864,  the  twelfth  quadrennial  session  of  the 
General  Conference  convened  in  Philadelphia.  The 
South  was  represented  in  this  General  Conference  by  a 
lay  delegate  in  the  person  of  Edward  H.  Hill,  who 
a  short  while  after  that  was  licensed  to  preach  and  or- 
dained deacon  and  elder,  all  within  a  few  months'  time. 
He  informed  the  General  Conference  of  the  success  which 
had  attended  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  sent  to  North 
Carolina,  and  of  the  splendid  prospect  for  the  Church  in 
that  field. 

Preceding  the  sitting  of  the  General  Conference  the 
subject  of  union  between  Zion  and  Bethel  had  been  much 
talked  of.  The  union  of  the  two  factions  of  Zion  four 
years  previous  had  made  the  impression  with  many  that 
it  might  be  an  easy  matter  to  unite  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  (Bethel)  and  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Churches,  and  make  them  one.  Ministers  in  both 
Churches  had  preached  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  thought 
that  the  people  were  pretty  well  prepared  for  it,  and,  in 
fact,  many  were,  but  there  were  also  those  who  were  bit- 
terly opposed  to  union.  We  shall  have  more  to  say  in 
another  place  as  to  why  the  union  failed,  and  possibly 
must  ever  fail. 

The  first  formal  proposition  for  union  came  from  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  (Bethel)  Church,  and  was 
presented  to  this  General  Conference.  We  take  the  fol- 
lowing from  the  minutes  of  the  second  day's  session, 
May  26,  1864: 


AFRICAN   METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         89 

"  A  special  committee  from  the  General  Conference  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church,  consisting  of  Revs.  A.  Mcintosh,  M.  Sluby,  and  Dr. 
Watts,  were  introduced  to  the  Conference  and  were  cordially  received. 
Business  was  suspended  to  give  them  audience. 

"Rev.  Mcintosh,  the  chairman  of  the  committee,  after  some  congratula- 
tory remarks,  presented  and  read  a  document  emanating  from  that  body  as 
to  its  action  and  provision  made  for  consolidation  of  the  two  connections, 
namely,  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  :  That  in  order  to  duly  consider  the  matter  a  com- 
mittee of  nine  had  been  appointed,  with  two  bishops,  to  meet  a  similar 
number  from  this  General  Conference  as  a  joint  committee,  in  the  event 
they  deem  such  consummation  possible,  shall  call  a  convention  con- 
sisting of  such  number  of  delegates  as  may  be  determined  by  said  joint 
committee.  When  the  convention  shall  have  assembled  they  shall  deter- 
mine the  conditions  upon  which  the  union  shall  be  consummated  ;  and  said 
conditions  shall  be  submitted  to  all  the  Annual  Conferences  of  each  con- 
nection. If  the  terms  agreed  upon  by  the  convention  be  ratified  by  a 
majority  of  all  the  Annual  Conferences  above  mentioned,  that  the  two 
connections  from  that  date  shall  be  one." 

After  a  brief  interchange  of  sentiment  with  the  com- 
mittee touching  the  subject  the  following  prevailed  : 

"  Resolved,  That  we  cordially  receive  the  representation  made  to  this 
Conference  by  the  subcommittee  from  the  Committee  on  Church  Union 
appointed  by  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  General  Conference,  and 
that  we  promise  to  give  the  subject  presented  a  Christian  and  fraternal 
consideration  which  its  importance  so  justly  demands  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity. 

"  The  committee  withdrew.  The  subject  was  further  deliberated  upon, 
which  resulted  in  the  following  resolution  : 

"  Resolved,  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  present  the 
Christian  greetings  and  resolutions  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  General  Conference  to  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  General 
Conference. 

"The  following  were  appointed:  Revs.  S.  T.  Jones,  J.  B.  Trusty,  S.  M. 
Giles.  This  committee,  having  filled  its  mission,  returned  and  reported 
through  the  chairman,  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  the  cordial  reception  they  met 
with  and  the  feeling  evinced  upon  the  subject  of  consolidation  ;  that  they 
were  upon  the  point  of  adjourning  that  evening,  but  upon  hearing  of  our 
approval  of  their  proposition  suspended  the  adjournment  until  our  Con- 
ference could  get  a  sufficient  quorum  to  consider  the  matter  properly.* 

*  It  may  be  noted  that  our  General  Conference  met  in  Philadelphia  about  the  time  the 
other  adjourned. 


90  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

He  corrected  an  error  in  the  report  of  the  committee  from  that  body, 
namely :  Instead  of  two  bishops,  as  was  reported,  it  is  the  Bench  of  Bish- 
ops to  be  united  with  nine  from  that  body,  and  the  same  from  us  or  an 
equivalent  in  members." 

On  the  following  day,  May  27,  the  following  preamble 
and  resolutions,  offered  by  S.  T.  Jones,  were  adopted:  • 

"  Whereas,  By  the  working  and  control  of  an  all-wise  and  gracious  Provi- 
dence, circumstances  and  events  have  so  conspired  during  the  present 
great  struggle  as  clearly  to  indicate  that  the  set  time  to  favor  Zion  has 
fully  come  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  This  is  specially  manifested  as  relates  to  that  portion  of  the 
Church  composed  of  colored  Methodists  in  America ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  We  should  prove  ourselves  false  alike  to  the  principles  of  our 
holy  religion,  our  obligations  as  the  representatives  of  Christ,  and  our  duty 
and  responsibilities  as  the  leaders  of  a  weak  because  divided  people, 
should  we  fail,  from  any  minor  consideration,  to  improve  the  present  fa- 
vorable opportunity  with  a  view  to  the  future  peace  and  prosperity  of  the 
Church,  and  the  moral,  social,  and  political  interest  of  the  race  with  which 
we  are  immediately  identified  ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  great  principle  of  Christian  union  and  brother- 
hood we  fully  indorse  all  proper  measures  employed  in  furtherance  of  that 
principle,  and  that  our  warm  sympathies  are  with  those  who  are  heartily 
engaged  in  the  effort  to  unite  in  one  body  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  and  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches. 

"  Resolved,  That  as  an  evidence  of  our  sincerity,  and  with  a  view  of 
facilitating  the  consummation  so  ardently  desired,  this  Conference  appoint 
a  committee  of  nine  with  the  Bench  of  Superintendents  forthwith,  who 
shall  be  authorized  and  empowered  to  confer  with  a  similar  committee  in 
connection  with  the  Bench  of  Bishops  chosen  by  the  General  Conference 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  all  matters  touching  a 
consolidation  of  the  bodies  represented." 

A  committee  of  three — J.  W.  Hood,  J.  H.  Smith,  and 
J.  P.  Hamer — was  appointed  to  inform  the  General  Con- 
ference of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  that 
in  compliance  with  their  wish  a  committee  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  them  on  the  consolidation  of  the 
connections.  On  returning  they  reported  that  six  o'clock 
that  evening  had  been  fixed  upon  for  the  joint  meeting. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         9 1 

S.  T.  Jones,  J.  W.  Loguen,  P.  G.  Laws,  Sampson  Tal- 
bot, G.  H.  Washington,  J.  Coleman,  J.  W.  Hood,  J.  D. 
Brooks,  J.  P.  Hamer,  S.  M.  Giles,  W.  F.  Butler,  with 
Superintendents  Bishop  and  Clinton,  constituted  the 
committee  on  our  part.  They  reported  to  the  Confer- 
ence on  Saturday,  May  28,  that  it  had  been  agreed  to 
submit  the  subject  of  consolidation  to  a  convention  com- 
posed of  twenty-five  on  each  side,  and  their  action  to  be 
submitted  to  all  the  Annual  Conferences  for  confirmation. 
Our  delegates  were  as  follows : 

New  York  Conference. — Revs.  W.  H.  Pitts,  Isaac 
Coleman,  Jephtha  Barcroft,  Jacob  Thomas. 

Philadelphia  Conference. — Revs.  Sampson  Talbot, 
S.  T.  Jones,  Charles  J.  Carter,  J.  B.  Trusty. 

New  England  Conference. — Revs.  S.  M.  Giles,  W. 

F.  Butler,  G.  H.  Washington,  J.  W.  Hood. 
Southern  Conference. — Revs.  J.  D.  Brooks,  R.  H. 

G.  Dyson,  J.  P.  Hamer,  J.  A.  Williams. 
Allegheny  Conference. — Revs.  Abraham  Cole,  J. 

B.  Cox,  James  A.  Jones. 

Genesee  Conference. — Revs.  J.  W.  Loguen,  James 
H.  Smith,  William  Sanford,  Bazel  McKall. 

Reserves. — Revs.  J.  P.  Thompson,  Jacob  Anderson, 
G.  A.  Spywood,  R.  A.  Gibson,  P.  G.  Laws,  John 
Thomas. 

The  convention  met  according  to  agreement  and  formu- 
lated a  platform  for  consolidation.  Zion  carried  out  her 
part  of  the  agreement.  To  make  the  final  consolidation 
the  more  convenient  she  agreed  to  meet  in  Washington, 
where  the  other  body  had  agreed  to  meet ;  she  also 
changed  the  date  of  sitting  of  the  General  Conference, 


92  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

as  may  be  seen  by  the  following  resolution  (p.  50,  Min- 
utes of  General  Conference,  1864)  : 

"  Resolved,  That  the  rule  for  the  sitting  of  the  General  Conference  on  the 
'  last  Wednesday  in  May  '  be  suspended,  and  the  '  first  Wednesday  in 
May '  be  substituted." 

Our  people  ratified  the  platform  and  the  General  Con- 
ference confirmed  it ;  but  for  some  reason  the  authorities 
in  Bethel  did  not  submit  it  to  their  people.  Since  that 
time  some  of  us  have  gone  slow  on  the  union  question 
with  that  Church. 

Nevertheless,  when  a  proposition  came  from  them 
again  in  1884  desiring  to  renew  the  effort,  Zion  again 
consented,  and  appointed  a  commission  to  meet  theirs, 
and  a  platform  almost  a  duplicate  of  the  one  prepared 
by  the  convention  of  1 864  was  adopted  by  the  joint  com- 
mission. This  was  submitted  to  the  bishops  with  a  request 
that  they  should  submit  it  to  the  people  for  ratification. 

Here  again  the  bishops  of  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal (Bethel)  Church  were  responsible  for  the  failure ; 
they  refused  to  submit  it  to  their  people.  To  state  the 
matter  exactly,  all  of  our  bishops  who  were  present 
voted  to  submit  the  platform  to  the  people,  and  Bishop 
Payne  voted  with  us;  but  his  colleagues  (seven)  voted 
against  it,  even  Bishop  Wayman,  who,  as  a  member  of 
the  joint  commission,  helped  to  make  the  platform  and 
voted  with  the  other  members  of  the  commission  to  re- 
quest the  bishops  to  submit  it  to  the  people ;  yet  in  the 
joint  meeting  of  the  bishops  he  voted  against  it.  Thus 
the  work  of  the  second  convention  came  to  nothing. 

At  this  General  Conference  (1864)  Sampson  D.  Talbot, 
John  D.   Brooks,  and  J.  W.  Loguen  were  added  to  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         93 

list  of  bishops.     The  bounds  of  the  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences were  fixed  as  follows : 

1.  The  New  York  Conference. — The  New  York 
Conference  to  embrace  all  that  part  of  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  lying  north  of  the  Raritan  River,  and  that  part  of 
the  State  of  New  York  lying  east  of  the  Hudson  River, 
including  that  portion  of  the  State  of  Connecticut  not 
comprised  in  the  New  England  Conference;  and  also 
that  part  of  the  State  of  New  York  lying  west  of  the 
Hudson  River,  bounded  by  a  line  commencing  at  the  city 
of  Albany  and  running  southwesterly  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania State  line,  and  also  the  British  Guiana  Mission. 

2.  The  Philadelphia  Conference. — The  Philadel- 
phia Conference  to  embrace  the  State  of  Delaware,  and 
all  that  part  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  south  of  the 
Raritan  River,  and  all  that  part  of  Pennsylvania  east 
of  the  Big  Valley;  Lewistown,  Montrose,  and  Wilkes- 
barre  excepted. 

3.  The  New  England  Conference. — The  New  Eng- 
land Conference  to  embrace  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  all  the  New  England  States  except  that  part  of 
Connecticut  lying  west  of  Stamford,  until  such  time  as 
those  points  in  the  British  Provinces  warrant  the  resusci- 
tating or  setting  apart  of  a  separate  Anniial  Conference. 

4.  The  Baltimore  Conference. — The  Baltimore 
(formerly  known  as  the  Southern)  Conference  to  em- 
brace the  State  of  Maryland,  District  of  Columbia,  West 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  all  that  part  of  Virginia  north 
of  the  James  River,  including  the  city  of  Richmond. 

5.  The  Allegheny  Conference. — The  Allegheny 
Conference  to  embrace  all  that  part  of  the  State  of  Penn- 


94  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

sylvania  west  of  the  Big  Valley,  including  the  States  of 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Kansas,  and  Iowa. 

6.  The  Genesee  Conference. — The  Genesee  Con- 
ference to  embrace  all  that  part  of  the  State  of  New 
York  not  comprised  in  the  New  York  Conference,  in- 
cluding Montrose  and  Wilkesbarre,  in  Pennsylvania. 

7.  The  North  Carolina  Conference. — The  North 
Carolina  Conference  to  embrace  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, Tennessee,  and  all  that  part  of  Virginia  south  of 
the  James  River. 

8.  The  California  Conference.  —  The  California 
Conference  to  embrace  Upper  California  and  all  that 
part  of  Lower  California  belonging  to  the  United  States, 
and  the  adjacent  territories. 

9.  The  Louisiana  Conference. — The  Louisiana  Con- 
ference to  embrace  those  States  south  of  North  Carolina. 

This  laying  off  the  nine  Annual  Conferences  looks  large 
on  paper,  but  there  was  not  much  in  it  as  to  the  number 
of  churches  at  that  time.  There  were  less  than  a  dozen 
churches  in  all  New  England,  less  than  a  dozen  in  the 
Genesee  Conference,  about  twenty-five  in  the  New  York 
Conference ;  there  were  less  than  a  dozen  churches  in  all 
States  west  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  ;  and  in  all  the 
States  south  of  Washington  there  were  none  except  the 
few  which  had  been  gathered  in  North  Carolina  during 
the  preceding  five  months.  Nevertheless,  the  field  laid 
off  at  that  time  has  been  largely  occupied.  The  State  of 
New  Jersey,  part  of  which  was  embraced  in  the  New  York 
Conference  and  part  in  Philadelphia  Conference,  has  been 
made  the  New  Jersey  Conference,  and  is  larger  now  than 
either  the  New  England,  Genesee,  or  Allegheny  Confer- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         95 

ence  was  in  1864.  The  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  Con- 
ferences have  been  consolidated.  The  ' '  On  to  Richmond" 
which  was  hoped  for  when  the  bounds  of  the  Southern 
Conference  were  extended  to  the  James  River  has  not 
materialized ;  only  two  churches  have  been  planted  by 
that  Conference  south  of  the  Potomac. 

The  field  westward  has  been  better  occupied.  First 
the  Kentucky  Conference  was  formed,  then  out  of  it  the 
Arkansas  and  Missouri  Conferences  were  formed.  The 
North  Carolina  Conference  was  formed  as  contemplated, 
and  from  it  sprang  the  Virginia  Conference,  the  South 
Carolina  Conference,  the  Tennessee  Conference,  and  the 
Central  North  Carolina  Conference ;  from  the  Tennessee 
Conference  the  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Confer- 
ences, and  the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  North  Caro- 
lina Conferences ;  from  the  Central  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence the  Western  North  Carolina  Conference ;  and  from 
the  South  Carolina  Conference  the  Palmetto  Conference. 

The  Louisiana  Conference  has  not  amounted  to  much 
in  that  State  up  to  this  time,  but  the  territory  embraced 
in  that  Conference,  as  first  set  off,  has  been  pretty 
well  worked  up.  First,  the  Alabama  Conference,  which 
had,  and  possibly  has  yet,  the  largest  number  of  ministers 
of  any  Conference  in  the  connection.  It  has  been  divided 
and  the  West  Alabama  Conference  formed  out  of  it. 
Then  the  Florida  Conference  was  formed,  which  has  also 
been  divided.  Finally,  the  Texas  Conference  and  a  sec- 
ond Georgia  Conference  have  been  formed.  The  Cali- 
fornia Conference  was  formed  as  anticipated,  and  the 
Oregon  Conference,  of  which  little  was  known  in  1864, 
has  been  formed. 


96  *  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

The  only  section  of  the  work  laid  off  at  that  time  in 
which  we  have  retrograded,  or  made  but  little  advance, 
is  the  British  Provinces.  Before  the  war  we  had  consid- 
erable work  in  Nova  Scotia,  New  Brunswick,  Canada, 
and  one  or  two  of  the  West  India  Islands.  Two  things 
operated  to  hinder  this  work :  First,  when  the  way  was 
opened  for  us  to  extend  our  efforts  southward,  it  required 
every  available  man  to  occupy  that  field,  and  the  kind  of 
men  that  could  be  spared  for  the  provincial  work  were 
wholly  unsuited  to  it.  The  sending  of  them  was  little 
better,  probably  worse,  than  sending  none.  Second, 
about  that  time  Bishop  Nazery,  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  went  to  Canada  and  established  the 
British  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  which  carried  every- 
thing before  it  in  the  Dominion  of  Canada  so  long  as  Na- 
zery lived.  As  we  had  not  men  in  the  provinces  capable 
of  holding  our  churches  they  were  carried  away  by  this 
movement.  When  Nazery  died  and  men  got  to  fighting 
over  his  shoes  that  work  went  to  pieces,  and  we  presume 
we  might  easily  regain  all  we  lost  there  if  we  had  the 
men  and  means  to  occupy  the  field.  For  about  thirty 
years  we  have  made  but  little  effort  in  that  direction. 
The  Michigan  and  Canada  Conference  includes  a  frag- 
ment of  the  Church  we  once  had  in  Canada.  We  have  a 
little  work  in  the  Bahama  Islands  and  in  Santo  Domingo. 

At  the  General  Conference  in  1868,  held  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  the  Discipline  was  more  thoroughly  revised 
than  at  any  other  period  since  the  first  Discipline  was 
adopted.  The  idea  of  a  lifetime  episcopacy  which  pre- 
vailed at  the  reunion  in  i860  was  incorporated  and  the 
Discipline  was  greatly  enlarged. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         97 

In  the  platform  agreed  to  in  the  convention  for  the 
consolidation  of  Zion  and  Bethel  (in  1 864)  it  was  agreed 
that  we  should  adopt  the  lifetime  episcopacy,  including 
the  third  ordination,  as  understood  by  other  Episcopal 
Churches.  This  was  one  of  the  questions  submitted  to 
our  people  for  ratification,  and  it  was  adopted;  and 
notwithstanding  we  failed  to  unite,  we  revised  the  Disci- 
pline according  to  the  idea  thus  indorsed  by  our  people. 
It  is  doubtful  if  all  the  members  just  realized  that  fact, 
and  the  movers  in  the  matter  did  not  make  any  more  ado 
about  it  than  was  necessary  to  get  the  revised  matter 
adopted. 

The  question  of  laying  on  of  hands  in  the  ordination 
of  bishops  was  not  raised,  as  the  Committee  on  Revision 
were  not  willing  to  risk  losing  the  substance  in  contend- 
ing for  a  shadow.  Besides  this  our  ministers  have  long 
used  the  ritual  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  per- 
forming the  ceremonies ;  hence  the  absence  in  the  Disci- 
pline of  the  instruction  for  laying  on  of  hands  at  a  par- 
ticular point  did  not  necessarily  prevent  that  performance. 
We  may  remark,  however,  that  it  became  a  question 
whether  we  did  or  should  lay  on  hands  in  the  ordination 
of  bishops,  and  therefore  in  1888  the  few  lines  which  were 
omitted  in  the  ordination  ceremony  in  1868  were  sup- 
plied. So  that  the  ceremony  of  setting  apart  a  bishop  in 
our  Discipline  is  the  same  as  that  in  the  ritual  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  except  that  the  word  "  con- 
secrate "  is  substituted  for  "  ordain." 

The  General  Conference  of  1868  made  a  blunder  which 
cost  us  very  dearly.  We  met  in  Washington  City  accord- 
ing to  agreement  with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 


98  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Church  to  facilitate  the  consummation  of  the  union  if 
agreed  to.  As  our  people  had  agreed  to  the  plan  adopted 
by  the  convention  many  had  high  hopes  of  the  consoli- 
dation. Our  General  Conference  agreed  to  the  union 
with  only  two  dissenting  votes.  But  when  we  informed 
the  other  body  that  we  had  fulfilled  all  the  requirements 
of  the  platform  and  were  ready  for  the  union  we  were 
coolly  informed  that  they  had  not  submitted  the  matter 
to  their  people.  This  made  some  of  our  men  indignant, 
and  some  became  reckless,  like  a  person  disappointed  in 
marriage  and  ready  to  do  something  for  spite. 

Gilbert  Haven  and  others  had  been  courting  some  of 
our  leading  men,  to  induce  us  to  unite  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  The  bait  held  out  was  that  we  should 
have  a  pro  rata  representation  in  the  Episcopal  Board, 
which  it  was  understood  would  give  us  two  or  more  bish- 
ops on  equality  with  the  white  bishops.  Gilbert  Haven 
was  perfectly  honest,  and  thought  he  could  manage  it. 
This  proposition,  made  to  our  General  Conference  just 
when  we  were  feeling  the  sting  of  Bethel's  conduct,  was 
very  favorably  considered.  The  result  was  that  we  sent 
a  delegate  to  Chicago.  He  was  well  received,  and  it 
looked  for  a  few  hours  as  if  we  should  get  from  that  body 
all  we  could  ask.  The  majority  of  that  body  agreed 
with  Gilbert  Haven ;  but  there  was  a  powerful  minority, 
led  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Slicer,  who  would  have  no 
Negro  bishop.  We  feel  to-day  that  through  the  prejudice 
of  that  man  and  his  followers  God  delivered  us  from  a 
fatal  blunder.  God  makes  the  wrath  of  men  to  praise 
him. 

If  those  who  had  favored  the  idea  of  receiving  us  on 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.         99 

fair  terms,  when  they  found  it  could  not  be  done,  had 
just  given  it  up  and  informed  us  of  the  sentiment  as  they 
understood  it,  we  should  have  suffered  no  loss.  But  in- 
stead of  that  they  played  the  old  game  of  delay.  Some 
of  us  fully  understood  the  meaning  of  this ;  we  could  see 
from  the  newspaper  reports  that  there  was  no  hope  of 
what  Gilbert  Haven  and  others  held  out  to  us.  They 
were  anxious  to  do  it,  but  the  odds  were  against  them ; 
many  of  us,  therefore,  made  up  our  minds  to  pursue  the 
matter  no  further.  Some,  however,  were  in  favor  of 
accepting  what  was  offered — a  four  years'  consideration  ►' 
of  the  matter.  The  experience  of  the  preceding  four 
years  with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was 
not  lost  sight  of  by  the  more  thoughtful  among  us ;  so 
there  was  division  in  our  own  ranks.  The  desire  to  unite 
with  some  other  branch  of  the  Methodist  Church  was  so 
strong  in  some  that  they  were  ready  to  unite  on  any 
terms,  or  even  to  make  an  unconditional  surrender. 
Then  some  of  the  ministers  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  took  advantage  of  our  weakness.  There  were 
many  places  where  our  people  were  struggling  with 
heavy  church  debts,  and  the  church  property  was  not 
fully  secured ;  in  many  such  cases  they  were  told  that  if 
they  would  go  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  their 
property  would  be  paid  for  and  their  ministers  supported 
out  of  the  Freedmen's  Aid  Society.  In  some  cases  the 
contemplated  union  was  used  against  us,  and  our  people 
were  told  that  we  were  going  soon  to  be  all  one  anyway, 
and  those  who  went  first  might  fare  best.  The  result 
was  that  thousands  of  our  members  went  to  that  Church. 
Rev.   G.  W.   Price,   Presiding   Elder  of  the  Lumberton 


IOO  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

(N.  C.)  District,  attempted  to  take  his  whole  district  and 
the  church  at  Wilmington,  N.  C.  He  took  several 
churches  and  about  one  thousand  members.  We  got  the 
church  at  Lumberton  back,  but  it  took  us  seven  years  to 
do  it,  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  the  advan- 
tage of  possession  and  the  use  of  our  property  all  those 
years,  while  our  people  were  without  a  place  of  worship. 
Only  a  few  remained  faithful  under  these  circumstances ; 
so  that  we  have  hardly  now  regained  our  former  strength 
in  that  section,  while  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
which  hindered  us  from  doing  what  we  might  have  done, 
has  but  little  now  to  show  for  the  large  number  of  mem- 
bers she  took  from  us  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 

As  in  i860,  likewise  in  1868,  more  bishops  were  made 
than  could  be  used  to  advantage.  Some  of  us  contended 
that  four  bishops  were  all  we  needed,  but  the  majority 
would  have  six ;  only  five,  however,  were  employed  to  any 
advantage  at  any  one  time  during  the  four  years.  It  was 
agreed  to  pay  the  bishops  one  thousand  dollars,  but  not 
more  than  two  of  them  received  that  amount.  The  ad- 
ditions to  the  Bench  of  Bishops  at  this  session  were  J.  W. 
Loguen,  who  was  elected  in  1864  but  resigned;  J.  J. 
Moore  and  S.  T.  Jones.  Bishop  W.  H.  Bishop  was  re- 
tired at  his  own  request. 

Since  the  death  of  Bishop  Clinton  there  has  been  some 
question  as  to  who  was  senior  bishop ;  sometimes  Bishop 
Jones  and  sometimes  Bishop  Moore  has  been  announced 
as  senior.  It  may  be  well  to  explain  how  this  controversy 
arose.  At  the  time  the  bishops  were  elected  Bishop  Jones 
was  not  present ;  he  had  gone  to  Chicago  as  a' delegate  to 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       10 1 

before  the  election  of  bishops  took  place.  When  he  re- 
turned, nearly  ten  days  later,  some  one  told  him  that  he 
was  elected  first ;  there  are  always  persons  whose  enthu- 
siasm carries  them  beyond  the  truth  as  well  as  beyond 
reason.  Such  a  person  misled  Bishop  Jones  in  this  mat- 
ter. Of  course  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should  doubt 
the  statement.  Certainly  he  was  the  more  popular  of  those 
elected  at  that  time,  and  we  are  sure  that  if  any  impor- 
tance had  been  attached  to  the  idea  of  electing  him  first 
it  would  have  been  done.  But  we  do  not  believe  that 
those  who  were  most  anxious  for  his  election  thought  of  it 
at  all,  and  so  it  happened  that  he  was  not  elected  first. 
Nevertheless,  the  false  impression  made  upon  his  mind 
remained  fourteen  years  unchallenged,  because  there  was 
no  occasion  for  the  question  to  come  up.  But  when  Bishop 
Clinton  died  (Bishops  Talbot  and  Loguen  having  pre- 
viously passed  away)  there  were  none  to  claim  the  senior- 
ity but  Moore  and  Jones,  and  it  was  discovered  that  some 
claimed  that  Moore  was  senior  and  others  that  Jones  was 
senior.  But  for  three  or  four  years  no  one  went  to  the 
record,  and  Bishop  Jones,  feeling  fully  satisfied  that  he 
had  been  correctly  informed,  felt  that  those  who  ac- 
knowledged Bishop  Moore  as  senior  were  simply  hostile 
to  him,  and  there  finally  got  to  be  considerable  feeling 
over  it.  The  writer  of  this  remembered  that  Bishop 
Moore  was  elected  first,  but  as  there  was  some  feeling 
over  it  he  preferred  that  the  record  should  testify,  and 
it  was  agreed  to  go  to  the  record,  which  is  as  follows : 

"  The  election  of  bishops  being  in  order,  the  chair  appointed  G.  A.  Spy- 
wood,  J.  A.  Jones,  and  W.  F.  Butler  tellers.  The  roll  of  Conference  was 
called,  and  each  member  deposited  his  ballot.  On  counting  the  votes  it 
appeared  that  the  whole  number  of  votes  cast  was  74  ;  necessary  to  a 


102  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

choice  38.  J.  J.  Moore  received  59,  and  was  duly  declared  elected  a  bishop 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  of  America.  A  second 
ballot  was  cast,  and  on  counting  the  list  it  was  ascertained  that  75  votes  were 
cast ;  necessary  to  a  choice  38.  S.  T.  Jones  received  62,  and  was  declared 
duly  elected  a  bishop  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in 
America."  * 

Such  is  the  record  made  at  the  time  that  it  was  done, 
and  there  can  be  no  question  that  Bishop  Moore  was  sen- 
ior by  a  few  minutes'  time  as  it  respects  their  election. 
There  was  a  greater  difference  as  to  their  consecration. 
Bishop  Moore  was  consecrated  on  Wednesday,  May  27; 
Bishop  Jones  did  not  return  from  Chicago  till  the  follow- 
ing day.  The  General  Conference  adjourned  on  Friday, 
the  29th,  but  provided  that  Bishop  Jones  should  be  con- 
secrated on  the  following  Sabbath.  Since  Bishop  Jones 
passed  away  there  is  now  no  question  as  to  seniority; 
but  we  have  thought  it  proper  to  give  the  facts,  as  some 
have  continued  to  speak  of  Bishop  Jones  as  the  senior 
bishop.  We  might  truthfully  have  spoken  of  him  as 
first  among  his  peers,  or  the  ablest  bishop.  That  much 
even  Bishop  Moore  was  willing  to  accord  him. 

Among  our  best  and  most  useful  men  of  his  day  we 
must  class  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Giles,  of  whom  we  have  spoken 
before,  but  a  more  extended  notice  seems  demanded.  He 
was  for  several  years  secretary  of  the  New  England  Con- 
ference, also  secretary  of  the  New  England  Mission  Board. 
He  was  a  fine  scholar,  and  one  of  the  most  lucid  preachers 
we  ever  listened  to.  He  was  not  an  orator  in  the  ordinary 
sense  of  that  term ;  he  held  the  interest  of  his  congregation 
by  what  he  said.  Every  time  he  spoke  he  said  something, 
and  something  which  came  so  natural  and  so  well  in 

*  Minutes,  1868,  p.  24. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       IO3 

place  that  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  else  could  have  suited 
so  well.  He  was  a  model  of  Christian  purity,  and  was 
always  ready  to  do  good  for  evil ;  you  might  have  smit- 
ten him  on  the  one  cheek  and  he  would  have  turned  the 
other.  If  he  had  occasion  to  chide  one  he  would  pray 
with  him  first  or  hand  him  a  passage  of  Scripture  to 
read,  which  would  prepare  him  to  receive  the  admoni- 
tion. He  would  never  turn  a  person  out  of  church  if  he 
could  help  it ;  in  fact,  he  had  such  influence  over  his 
members  that  he  seldom  had  one  to  turn  out;  they 
would  sacrifice  their  own  desires  to  live  in  accord  with 
his  teaching.  He  lived  in  the  hearts  of  his  people.  He 
was  among  the  best  writers  the  connection  has  produced ; 
he  wrote  rapidly,  and  the  best  of  language  was  so  ready 
at  command  that  he  seldom  had  to  rewrite.  If  he  had 
lived  a  few  years  longer  we  should  have  had  such  a  his- 
tory as  we  shall  never  see.*  His  work  began  where  Bishop 
Rush's  ended,  and  was  intended  to  be  as  complete  for  the 
period  ending  about  1864.  He  was  a  quiet  worker  in 
the  General  Conferences  of  1856,  i860,  and  1864.  After 
the  General  Conference  of  1 864  he  was  transferred  to  the 
Southern  Conference,  as  it  was  then  called,  and  stationed 
in  Washington  City,  first  at  Wesley  Zion  Church  and 
after  that  at  Union  Wesley.  He  was  one  of  the  secretaries 
at  the  General  Conference  in  1 860,  and  also  in  1 864,  and 
was  compiler  and  publisher  of  the  Minutes.  He  pre- 
pared and  published  a  hymn  book,  which  was  adopted  by 
the  General  Conference  of  i860;  it  was  a  very  fine  com- 
pilation. Giles  was  prominently  spoken  of  for  the  bish- 
opric both  in  i860  and  1864,  and  we  fully  believe  that  if 

*We  regret  that  the  Giles  manuscript  cannot  be  found. 
9 


104  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

he  had  lived  till  1868  he  would  have  been  elected  in- 
stead of  Loguen  ;   but  he  died  before  the  Conference  met. 

Rev.  James  A.  Jones  was  also  one  of  the  strong  men 
of  that  period ;  he  held  important  charges  in  all  parts  of 
the  connection  as  far  east  as  Nova  Scotia,  as  far  west  as 
Missouri,  and  as  far  south  as  North  Carolina.  He  was 
the  first  general  secretary  elected  after  that  office  was 
created. 

Jacob  B.  Trusty  and  J.  P.  Hamer  were  both  men  of  con- 
siderable ability.  Brother  Hamer  was  editor  of  the  Zion 
Church  Advocate,  and  Brother  Trusty  was  connected  with 
him  in  the  management  of  that  paper. 

Abraham  Cole  and  Joseph  Armstrong  were  men  of 
ability  and  usefulness. 

In  1872  only  one  bishop  was  added.  Brooks  was  re- 
tired and  Loguen  died,  which  left  the  number  five,  all 
that  could  then  be  used  to  advantage,  and  for  the  four 
succeeding  years  the  connection  had  a  steady  growth  and 
numbered  in  1876  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand; so  that  from  1864  to  1876  the  connection  doubled 
five  times,  or  once  in  less  than  three  years.  We  doubt 
whether  there  is  another  such  record  in  the  Church  his- 
tory of  our  times. 

In  1876,  by  a  system  of  log-rolling  known  to  politi- 
cians and  discreditable  to  the  Church,  three  bishops  were 
elected-  Not  because  we  needed  to  make  that  many 
at  that  time,  but  to  satisfy  the  unholy  ambition  of  one 
man.  The  result  was  that  the  Church  was  disgraced  by 
one  holding  the  highest  office  to  which  man  can  attain 
on  earth.  Not  only  this,  but  the  one  man  who  was  best 
prepared  to  build  up  our  work  in  the  South  at  that  time 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       105 

was  obliged  to  take  a  pastoral  charge  for  four  years. 
Few,  if  any,  know  how  much  harm  was  done  by  putting 
a  bishop  in  that  humiliating  position.  He  was  the  choice 
of  the  South,  and  the  treatment  he  received  caused  much 
ill  feeling,  of  which  our  enemies  took  advantage,  and  said 
that  we  had  made  a  Southern  man  a  bishop  as  a  sham, 
but  did  not  mean  to  let  him  fill  the  office.  We  could  name 
men  in  high  positions  in  other  denominations  who  used 
it  for  all  it  was  worth  against  us,  and  had  there  been  a 
bishop  in  charge  of  the  Third  District  who  for  any  reason 
had  failed  to  meet  the  situation,  the  connection  would 
have  met  a  greater  disaster  than  has  ever  befallen  it. 
The  bishop  who  provided  for  his  colleague  by  giving 
him  a  pastoral  charge  which  was  willing  to  accept  such 
service  as  he  could  give  them,  and  at  the  same  time 
care  for  his  mission  work,  was  blamed;  but  he  fully  un- 
derstood the  situation  and  the  imminent  danger,  and 
made  up  his  mind  to  bear  any  amount  of  censure  in  si- 
lence, if  permitted  to  do  so,  or  to  meet  a  storm  if  neces- 
sary, as  he  believed  it  was  the  only  way  to  save  the 
connection  from  disaster.  The  four  years  were  passed, 
however,  without  serious  damage ;  but  it  was  seen  that 
there  were  certain  things  indispensable  to  the  continued 
growth  of  the  connection  : 

1.  It  was  necessary,  as  far  as  possible,  to  put  an  end 
to  that  system  by  which  unsuitable  persons  could  get 
into  the  bishopric  by  forming  combinations.  To  this 
end  it  was  necessary  to  put  an  end  to  the  farce  of  re- 
electing bishops.  After  1868  the  bishop  was  made  for 
life,  but  to  be  held  in  active  service  he  had  to  be  re- 
elected at  the  end  of  four  years ;  if  not  re-elected  he  did 


106  ONE   HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 

not  cease  to  be  bishop,  but  was  held  as  retired.  He  was 
liable  to  be  called  into  active  service  in  case  of  a  vacancy 
during  the  interval  of  the  General  Conference.  The  re- 
election, therefore,  settled  nothing  except  that  those  who 
were  re-elected  were  supposed  to  be  certain  of  work. 
This  being  the  case,  there  was  a  much  easier  way  to  get 
at  it,  namely,  by  simply  providing  for  the  retiring  of  a 
bishop  when  he  ceased  to  be  useful. 

2.  A  better  financial  system  was  found  to  be  an  indis- 
pensable necessity. 

3 .  It  was  seen  that  we  needed  a  well-established  news- 
paper. 

4.  It  was  fully  realized  that  the  establishment  of  an 
educational  institution  was  an  indispensable  necessity. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  delegates  from  two  episcopal 
districts  came  to  the  General  Conference  in  1880  with 
well-prepared  plans  to  meet  all  the  necessities,  and  they 
were  all  in  some  degree  provided  for.  Bishop  Jones  and 
the  bishop  of  the  Third  District  both  realized  for  the  first 
time  how  closely  their  minds  ran  together  on  connec- 
tional  matters,  and  how  important  it  was  for  them  to 
unite  their  efforts  for  the  success  of  the  connection ;  and 
from  that  time  till  the  day  of  Bishop  Jones's  death 
there  was  no  important  measure  put  in  motion  in  the 
interest  of  the  connection  that  did  not  have  the  best  effort 
of  both. 

It  was  decided  at  this  General  Conference  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote  that  the  bishop  should  remain  in  office 
during  good  behavior  without  reelection.  There  were 
none  added  to  the  board  at  this  General  Conference  (for 
the  first  time  since  1844).     Bishops  Brooks  and  Talbot 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       107 

had  passed  away,  and  Bishop  Clinton  was  broken  down, 
so  the  active  bishops  were  reduced  to  six. 

The  splendid  financial  plan  which  we  now  have  was 
formulated  at  that  time.  It  did  not  then  reach  its 
completeness  as  we  now  have  it ;  it  has  undergone 
little  changes  of  detail,  but  the  main  features  are 
the  same,  and  the  changes  have  only  brought  it  more 
fully  up  to  the  idea  of  the  minds  that  originally  con- 
ceived it. 

The  Star  of  Zion  was  adopted  by  this  General  Confer- 
ence. There  had  been  several  previous  efforts  made  to 
secure  an  organ  for  the  connection.  As  early  as  i860  the 
Anglo-African  was  adopted;  its  editor,  Robert  Hamilton, 
was  chorister  of  old  Zion  Church.  When  that  paper  had 
run  its  course  and  failed  the  Zion  Standard  and  Weekly 
Review  was  started  by  the  trustees  of  old  Zion  Church, 
with  Bishop  Jones,  who  was  then  the  pastor,  as  religious 
editor.  A  complete  outfit  was  purchased,  and  $7,500 
was  spent  in  the  effort  to  establish  a  connectional  jour- 
nal. The  General  Conference  of  1868  agreed  to  purchase 
the  paper  at  the  original  cost,  $4,000  of  which  the  cor- 
poration agreed  to  donate.  In  the  Journal  of  that  Con- 
ference we  find  the  following,  which  was  offered  by  Rev. 
S.  T.  Jones,  and  adopted : 

"  Whereas,  The  incorporate  body  of  Zion  Church,  New  York,  in  a  com- 
mendable public  spirit,  has  commenced  and  carried  on  at  its  own  expense 
the  Zion  Standard  as  the  organ  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  by  which  the  interest  of  the  Church  and  the  race  has  been  mate- 
rially advanced ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  Said  incorporate  body  has,  in  a  spirit  of  magnanimity  which 
should  command  the  respect  of  the  General  Conference  and  entire  con- 
nection, donated  to  this  body  the  sum  of  $4,000 ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  this  Conference  are  due  and  are  hereby 


108  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

tendered  to  the  said  incorporation  for  its  liberality  as  well  as  for  the 
creditable  manner  in  which  it  has  conducted  the  paper  under  peculiarly 
embarrassing  circttmstances.' ' 

The  words  we  have  put  in  italics  conveyed  the  idea 
to  some  of  us  who  were  present  at  that  General  Confer- 
ence that  possibly  we  were  taking  an  elephant  on  our 
hands,  and  so  it  proved.  Rev.  J.  N.  Gloucester  was 
made  editor,  and  Abram  B.  Coss,  Esq.,  business  manager ; 
but  the  paper  failed  in  less  than  one  year.  The  collapse 
was  so  complete  that  the  record  of  the  succeeding  General 
Conference  contains  no  mention  of  it.  About  1872  or 
1873  the  Zion  Church  Advocate  was  started  in  Washington 
City  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Hamer,  Jacob  B.  Trusty,  and  others. 
It  was  conducted  by  a  company  until  the  sitting  of  the 
General  Conference  which  met  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  1876. 
The  General  Conference  agreed  to  take  the  paper  and 
conduct  it.  The  Minutes  of  that  General  Conference 
were  never  published,  and  we  have  only  memory  to  rely 
upon.  Rev.  W.  H.  Day  was  made  editor.  It  was  agreed 
that  each  minister  should  pledge  $4.50,  the  price  of  three 
copies  per  year ;  but  for  some  cause  not  a  copy  was  issued 
after  the  General  Conference.*  The  following  is  taken 
from  the  bishop's  address  to  the  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence in  1877 : 

"CHURCH   ORGAN. 

"  I  have  frequently  urged  the  importance  of  an  organ  through  which  the 
Church  could  speak  to  all  the  world  and  tell  whatever  is  important  for  the 
world  to  know.  The  General  Conference  at  its  last  session  attempted  to 
establish  a  journal,  but  the  effort  proved  a  failure.  Your  money  deposited 
with  the  secretary  at  the  last  Conference  was  sent  to  the  editor,  since  which 
we  have  received  no  paper  from  that  source.  Tired  of  being  harassed  by 
persons  who  had  sent  their  money  and  could  get  no  paper,  I  went  to  New 

*  Since  the  above  was  written  we  have  learned  that  three  numbers  were  issued,  and  the  amount 
sent  from  North  Carolina  being  all  that  was  sent,  was  thus  used  up. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       IO9 

Berne  and  arranged  with  Brother  Tyler  for  the  publication  of  a  paper. 
The  Star  of  Zion  is  the  result  of  that  effort.  While  this  paper  was  started 
to  supply  a  need  resulting  from  the  failure  of  the  Zion  Church  Advocate, 
its  grand  success  has  stamped  it  as  a  permanent  organ  of  the  connection, 
whatever  may  be  the  success  of  other  enterprises.  I  commend  the  Star 
to  your  heartiest  and  most  earnest  consideration.  Let  us  make  it  a  power 
in  this  land — a  star  so  bright  that  no  cloud  can  hide  the  beauty  of  its  rays." 

Such  is  the  account  given  of  the  origin  of  the  Star  by 
the  'man  who  put  down  the  first  five  dollars  to  pay  for  the 
paper  for  the  first  issue. 

A  circular  was  sent  to  several  ministers  and  a  few 
laymen,  requesting  each  to  subscribe  $1  per  month  to 
run  the  Star  until  it  became  self-sustaining.  About 
twenty-five  persons  responded.  It  was  thought  that  not 
less  than  $30  per  month  would  be  necessary  to  insure 
success.  The  mover  in  the  matter  agreed  to  pay  $5  per 
month  to  insure  success.  The  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence at  its  session  in  1877  adopted  the  following: 

"  REPORT    OF    COMMITTEE   ON    CHURCH    ORGAN. 

"  Whereas,  The  General  Conference  in  its  effort  to  establish  a  connec- 
tional  organ  did  thereby  show  the  great  necessity  for  the  same  ;  and 

"  Whereas,  The  plan  fixed  upon  by  the  General  Conference  has  thus  far 
been  a  failure, 

"Resolved,  That  we,  the  members  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference,  do 
agree  to  perpetuate  the  plan  and  intention  of  said  General  Conference  by 
a  hearty  support  of  the  paper  gotten  up  through  the  wisdom  of  Right  Rev. 
J.  W.  Hood  and  edited  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Tyler  with  artistic  skill  through  the 
unshrinking  love  and  zeal  he  has  for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  the  cause  of  our  beloved  Zion  ;  and, 

"  Whereas,  This  is  the  first  time  that  the  Southern  portion  of  the  connec- 
tion has  ever  attempted  to  establish  a  paper,  and  a  paper  is  much  needed 
in  our  midst ;  therefore, 

"Resolved,  That  every  minister  of  this  Conference  be  urged  to  take  the 
paper  himself  and  become  an  agent  to  solicit  subscribers  for  the  same. 
And 

"  Whereas,  Elder  J.  A.  Tyler  has  been  so  faithful  in  editing  and  uphold- 
ing and  continuing  the  paper  until  the  sitting  of  the  Conference, 


IIO  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

"  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  this  Conference  do  pay  him  the  sum 
of  $25  by  way  of  respect. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  do  pledge  ourselves  to  maintain  and  support,  in 
all  honorable  ways,  the  paper  above  mentioned,  known  as  the  Star  of  Zion. 
"  Respectfully  submitted, 

"  H.  C.  Phillips, 
"J.  McH.  Farley, 
"J.  W.  Davis, 
"  R.  S.  Rieves, 


Committee." 


The  spirit  of  this  report  was  carried  out  to  a  large  ex- 
tent by  the  members  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference. 
The  South  Carolina  and  Virginia  Conferences  also  took 
an  active  part  in  supporting  the  paper,  and  several  lead- 
ing men  in  different  parts  of  the  connection  gave  it  their 
influence  and  support,  so  that  by  the  meeting  of  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1880  it  had  a  considerable  circulation 
and  was  known  in  every  section.  The  promoters  of  this 
enterprise,  who  had  given  their  means  and  labor  to  es- 
tablish the  paper,  went  to  the  General  Conference  and 
offered  the  paper,  press,  and  type  which  they  had  pur- 
chased to  the  connection  free  of  charge,  and  with  only 
two  conditions,  namely,  first,  that  the  General  Conference 
would  assume  a  small  indebtedness  on  the  type  (about 
$100),  and,  second,  that  the  paper  should  never  be  discon- 
tinued. The  stockholders  had-  given  this  pledge  to  the 
public  when  they  started  the  paper,  and  they  were  deter- 
mined that  the  pledge  should  be  kept;  hence  they  re- 
served the  right  to  take  hold  of  the  paper  again  if  the 
connection  let  it  fail.  The  General  Conference  has  kept 
its  pledge,  and  the  Star  twinkles  for  all. 

The  fourth  important  matter  provided  for  at  this  Gen- 
eral Conference  was  our  present  splendid  Livingstone 
College.     We  had  been  trying  for  many  years  to  estab- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        Ill 

lish  an  educational  institution.  The  first  effort  was  the 
Rush  Academy,  located  somewhere  in  the  State  of  New 
York  ;  twenty  years  or  more  had  been  spent  on  this  effort 
without  accomplishing  anything.  Then  it  was  proposed 
to  sell  the  property  in  New  York,  and  a  lot  was  bought 
in  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  on  which  to  erect  the  Rush  Univer- 
sity. This  was  regarded  as  a  good  location,  because  it  was 
where  there  were  a  large  number  of  our  people.  But  the 
State  Normal  School  was  located  at  Fayetteville,  and  the 
man  we  hoped  to  use  in  establishing  the  university,  Pro- 
fessor C.  R.  Harris,  was  selected  as  principal  of  the  Nor- 
mal School.  Hence  Fayetteville  proved  a  failure.  About 
the  same  time  the  Zion  Hill  Collegiate  Institute  was 
started  in  Pennsylvania,  near  Pittsburg.  This  was  en- 
tirely out  of  the  way  of  our  people,  and  some  of  us  saw 
from  the  commencement  that  this  effort  could  only  end 
in  failure.  But  our  beloved  senior  bishop,  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton, had  set  his  heart  upon  it,  and  we  saw  that  the  end  of 
it  would  be  the  end  of  his  usefulness,  and  we  were  anx- 
ious to  postpone  the  evil  day  as  long  as  possible ;  hence 
we  encouraged  the  effort.  The  bishop's  plan  was  to  get 
an  appropriation  from  the  Legislature.  We  think  the 
bill  passed  but  was  vetoed  by  the  governor.  The  bishop 
believed  that  its  failure  was  the  result  of  treachery  in 
his  own  ranks,  and  was  consequently  greatly  depressed 
in  mind. 

The  institution  collapsed,  and  the  bishop's  mental  and 
physical  vigor  failed,  and  he  never  recovered.  We  shall 
never  forget  the  forlorn  appearance  he  presented  when  we 
visited  him  after  that  disaster.  We  soon  found  it  would 
not  do  to  talk  to  him  on  the  subject  of  the  college.     He 


112  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

lingered  for  a  while,  but  was  never  strong  either  in  body 
or  mind  after  that. 

We  have  found  that  it  is  pretty  hard  work  to  plant  a 
college.  They  seem  to  spring  up  as  a  natural  growth 
where  they  are  successful.  Our  Livingstone  is  not  where 
the  attempt  was  first  made  to  plant  it ;  it  was  started  at 
Concord.  It  was,  however,  at  the  Annual  Conference 
which  met  at  Salisbury,  in  1877,  that  the  first  movement 
was  made  which  resulted  in  its  establishment. 

Several  persons  have  claimed  the  honor  of  being  the 
originator  of  Livingstone  College.  We  think  the  honor 
of  the  very  first  move  in  the  matter  belongs  to  one  who  is 
always  too  modest  to  claim  honors ;  he  was  not  only  the 
first  to  move  in  the  matter,  but  he  has  done  as  much  as 
any  other  man  toward  making  the  institution  the  religious 
power  it  is.  We  reefer  to  Bishop  C.  R.  Harris,  D.D. 
The  following,  taken  from  the  Minutes  (page  22)  of  the 
North  Carolina  Conference,  1877,  speaks  for  itself : 

"  C.  R.  Harris  presented  a  paper  signed  by  Thurber,  Harris,  and  Rieves, 
on  the  establishment  of  a  theological  seminary  in  this  State.  Adopted. 
The  plan  in  substance  is  this  : 

"  1.  Provides  for  the  election  of  trustees,  who,  after  the  incorporation  of 
the  seminary,  are  to  devise  the  form  and  have  the  printing  and  distribution 
of  the  building  stock. 

"2.  Shares  to  be  $10  each;  minimum  limit  to  be  sold,  500;  each  church 
to  be  allowed  at  least  one  share. 

"3.  Each  share  entitles  its  representative  to  a  year's  tuition  in  the  semi- 
nary, and  may  be  purchased  by  individuals. 

"  4.  Provides  for  the  returns  of  elders,  and  the  time  and  place  of  annual 
meetings  to  frame  and  to  present  to  the  Annual  Conference  a  report  of  the 
progress  of  the  work. 

"  Trustees  were  then  elected,  namely,  C.  R.  Harris,  William  H.  Thurber, 
William  J.  Moore,  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  R.  H.  Simmons,  Bishop  T.  H.  Lo- 
max,  Z.  T.  Pearsall,  A.  York,  and  A.  B.  Smyer. 

"  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood  and  E.  H.  Hill  were  selected  to  attend  to  the  incor- 
poration of  the  seminary." 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       113 

Such  is  the  record.  The  document  in  every  line  ex- 
hibits its  authors.  We  say  authors,  for  while  the  greater 
part  of  it  shows  the  handiwork  of  Bishop  Harris  the  joint- 
stock  idea  sounds  very  much  like  William  H.  Thurber, 
who  has  from  the  commencement  shown  the  deepest  in- 
terest in  the  success  of  the  institution.  It  was  he  who 
first  interested  the  people  of  Concord  in  the  matter  and 
secured  the  ground  on  which  it  was  first  proposed  to  erect 
the  college. 

Rev.  R.  S.  Rieves,  whose  name  is  associated  with  Har- 
ris and  Thurber  in  presenting  the  matter  to  the  Confer- 
ence, was  quite  young  at  that  time,  hence  was  not  hon- 
ored with  a  place  in  the  board  of  trustees ;  but  he  was 
even  then  one  of  our  best  students,  and  stands  to-day  in 
the  very  first  rank  among  the  presiding  elders,  not  only 
as  a  worker  and  preacher,  but  also  as  a  thinker.  There 
are  few  men  who  have  a  larger  or  better  influence  in  a 
deliberative  body.  The  names  of  Harris,  Thurber,  and 
Rieves  should  be  engraved  in  rock  and  placed  conspicu- 
ously somewhere  at  Livingstone.  Nothing  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded better  than  that  for  which  they  planned. 

At  the  next  Conference,  1878,  the  bishop  in  his  ad- 
dress spoke  as  follows : 

"ZION    WESLEY   INSTITUTE. 

"  This  can  be  made  a  success  if  we  so  will.  I  think  Bishop  Lomax  was 
in  the  chair  when  this  measure  passed  the  Conference.  When  I  was 
spoken  to  about  it  I  gave  it  no  encouragement,  but  after  it  passed  the 
Conference  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  give  the  measure  a  fair  trial.  With  this 
view  I  met  the  board  of  trustees,  and  there  for  the  first  time  learned 
exactly  what  was  proposed.  The  prospect  of  success  appeared  so  much 
beyond  my  expectation  that  I  finally  fell  in  with  the  plan  proposed.  I, 
by  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  trustees,  appointed  an  agent,  who  agreed 
to  travel  and  lecture  for  sixty  clays  free  of  cost  if  I  could  procure  for  him 


114  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

free  tickets  over  the  several  railroads.  Colonel  A.  S.  Buford,  President  of 
the  Richmond  and  Danville  Railroad,  granted  him  a  two-thousand-mile 
ticket  over  the  North  Carolina  Division  of  that  road.  Major  John  Hughs 
granted  him  a  free  ticket  over  the  Atlantic  Road,  and  Colonel  L.  C.  Jones 
granted  him  a  free  ticket  over  the  Western  Road.  The  best  that  other 
roads  consented  to  do  was  to  furnish  tickets  at  clergymen's  rates.  In 
order  to  make  use  of  the  tickets  the  agent  had  received  it  was  necessary  to 
raise  a  small  amount  to  pay  expenses  on  other  roads.  To  my  surprise  I 
learned  that,  so  far  from  being  willing  to  raise  anything  on  his  traveling 
expenses,  at  some  places  they  demanded  that  the  agent  pay  his  board, 
notwithstanding  he  was  giving  the  connection  sixty  days  of  his  precious 
time  free  of  cost.  I  confess  I  was  disheartened,  especially  when  I  learned 
that  men  who  sat  here  and  voted  for  this  measure  professed  to  know 
nothing  about  it.  I  was  charged  with  exercising  authority  not  vested  in 
me,  and  the  agent  was  charged  with  being  an  impostor.  An  impostor, 
indeed  !  He  asked  not  a  cent.  I  asked  the  churches  to  defray  what  little 
expense  he  incurred  in  doing  our  work  for  nothing.  His  business  was  to 
open  the  way  for  the  several  pastors  to  sell  the  shares  you  had  voted  to 
issue.  Were  you  in  earnest  when  you  gave  that  vote  ?  I  supposed  you 
were.  If  you  were  not  I  hope  you  will  say  so,  and  we  shall  know  what  to 
do.     Let  us  trifle  no  longer." 

This  address  calls  to  mind  the  difficulties  under  which 
the  college  was  started.  The  Conference  having  voted 
to  issue  shares  of  stock,  it  was  necessary  to  set  the  idea 
clearly  before  the  churches ;  very  few  of  the  ministers 
of  that  time  were  sufficiently  intelligent  to  do  it.  Pro- 
fessor A.  S.  Richardson,  a  fine  lecturer,  volunteered  to 
give  sixty  days  to  the  cause.  We  may  remark  that  in 
working  up  the  institution  in  its  early  stage  no  one  did 
more  than  Professor  Richardson.  It  was  he  who  worked 
up  the  sentiment  in  Salisbury  which  induced  the  white 
people  to  subscribe  $1,000  to  induce  the  trustees  to  move 
the  college  to  that  place.  From  the  Minutes  of  1878  we 
take  the  following : 

"  Professor  A.  S.  Richardson,  the  lecturing  agent  for  Zion  Wesley  Insti- 
tute, submitted  his  report  and  entertained  the  Conference  with  an  eloquent 
speech  in  behalf  of  the  institute.     He  gave  an  itemized  account  of  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.      I  1 5 

shares  he  had  distributed,  and  congratulated  the  members  of  the  Confer- 
ence on  the  prospect  of  soon  having  an  institution  of  our  own  to  reflect 
its  light  over  the  whole  country.  He  counseled  united  and  vigorous  action. 
'  We  must  deny  ourselves,'  he  said, '  and  set  the  example  of  taking  scholar- 
ships and  aiding  pecuniarily  in  the  work.  Votes  are  powerful ;  they  de- 
clare war  and  command  peace,  but  votes  will  not  build  Zion  Wesley  Insti- 
tute. [Laughter.]  Presbyterians  have  schools  of  their  faith,  Baptists  of 
theirs,  Catholics  of  theirs  ;  we  should  have  one  of  ours.  We  shall  never 
firmly  establish  ourselves  as  a  connection  until  we  have  a  good  seminary 
of  learning.  We  want  a  supply  of  good  ministers,  and  a  good  institution 
alone  will  give  them  to  us.  Our  people  are  yearly  becoming  better  edu- 
cated, and  we  must  have  a  ministry  to  instruct  and  assist  them.  Educa- 
tion will  secure  this,  and  education  we  must  have.'  Thanks  were  tendered 
to  the  speaker  by  a  unanimous  vote." 

At  the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference  in  1879  the 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  Zion  Wesley  Institute  submit- 
ted his  report,  as  follows : 

"  To  the  Board  of  Trustees  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  Bishops,  and  Conference: 

"  Brethren  :  I  have  no  rose-colored  report  to  offer,  but  such  as  I  have 
give  I  unto  you.  In  accordance  with  a  resolution  of  the  last  Annual  Con- 
ference diplomas  of  honor  were  prepared  by  Professor  A.  S.  Richardson. 
From  January  13  to  February  21  fifty  ministers  were  supplied  with  them, 
express  charges  being  paid  from  the  treasury.  A  few  others  were  sup- 
plied afterward,  the  total  number  being  five  hundred.  Nine  hundred  and 
thirty-five  were  printed,  eleven  sold  by  the  secretary,  and  three  were  re- 
turned by  Deacon  Vanderberg,  leaving  a  balance  on  hand  of  four  hundred 
and  twenty-seven.  Of  scholarships  four  hundred  and  seventy-six  were 
printed,  two  of  them  being  sold  by  Elder  Bonner  last  year  at  Tarboro,  and 
two  this  year  by  Elder  Harris  at  Salisbury. 

"  In  the  latter  part  of  June  Elder  Thurber  made  a  suggestion  that  we 
endeavor  to  raise  funds  at  once  to  put  up  a  temporary  building,  so  as  to 
start  the  school  on  the  1st  of  December.  It  was  thought  that  as  so  much 
labor  had  been  performed,  and  some  timber  could  be  obtained  on  the 
ground,  $250  cash  would  enable  us  to  get  the  building  ready  for  occu- 
pancy by  that  time.  Immediately  I  wrote  an  appeal  for  Zion  Wesley  Insti- 
tute and  sent  it  to  the  Star,  which  was  published  in  the  August  number.  In 
it  I  urged  all  the  preachers  in  charge  of  our  churches  to  raise  a  collection 
for  Zion  Wesley  Institute  at  once  and  forward  to  the  treasury  at  Salisbury. 

"  One  or  two  ministers  wrote  saying  that  they  intended  to  comply,  but  up 
to  the  assembling  of  the  Conference  none  had  responded  to  that  appeal  but 


Il6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Jerry  McNeill,  who  sent  $2  from  Swan's  Station.  All  honor  to  him  !  Let 
this  epitaph  be  written  over  his  grave :  '  He  hath  done  what  he  could.' 

"  As  further  aid  in  raising  funds  for  the  institute  the  trustees  at  an  infor- 
mal meeting,  held  at  Concord  in  August,  agreed  that  the  diplomas  might 
be  sold  on  time  by  paying  $l  yearly.  The  secretary  was  to  inform  the 
financial  agents  of  the  arrangements  and  furnish  them  with  blank  due- 
bills  to  be  signed  by  parties  purchasing  diplomas.  At  the  same  time  sev- 
eral brethren  present  agreed  to  advance  certain  sums  to  supply  demand 
while  the  building  was  in  process  of  erection.  Of  these  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood  forwarded  to  the  treasurer  $50,  $40  being  the  balance  of  the  Educa- 
tional Fund  of  this  Conference  then  in  his  hands,  and  $10  donated  by  himself. 

"  No  receipts  yet  from  scholarships  or  diplomas.  On  the  19th  inst.  the 
idea  occurred  to  me  that  the  apathy  of  the  ministers  in  regard  to  the  col- 
lection of  funds  might  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  deed  to  the  land  had  not 
yet  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees,  although  it  had  been  agreed  that 
no  improvements  should  be  made  till  all  was  done,  and  the  chairman  of  the 
Building  Committee  had  been  instructed  to  get  the  deed  as  soon  as  possible. 

"  I  then  thought  I  would  try  to  secure  a  piece  of  land  in  Salisbury  and 
have  it  presented  to  the  institution.  However,  on  the  21st  I  dropped  a 
card  to  Warren  Coleman,  Esq.,  of  Concord,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of 
the  trustees,  who  dedicated  the  land  to  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  asking  if 
there  was  any  possibility  of  having  a  deed  for  that  land,  to  be  presented  to 
this  Annual  Conference,  and  requesting  an  answer  by  return  mail.  Re- 
ceiving no  reply,  on  Sunday  night  I  called  a  meeting  for  Monday  night,  to 
see  if  the  citizens  would  secure  land  and  donate  it  to  the  institution. 

"  On  Monday  Mr.  Joseph  Ballard,  an  honorary  trustee  of  Zion  Wesley 
Institute,  made  inquiries  concerning  places  which  might  be  bought.  At 
night  he  reported  that  four  acres  were  offered  free  of  cost  by  Mr.  D.  L. 
Bringle,  postmaster,  but  that  a  more  desirable  tract,  containing  forty 
acres,  could  be  obtained  for  $200.  It  was  decided  to  secure  said  tract,  sell 
thirty  acres,  and  donate  the  other  ten  acres  to  Zion  Wesley  Institute  if  the 
building  would  be  placed  upon  it.  The  thirty  acres  were  soon  disposed 
of,  and  a  subscription  amounting  to  $60  was  then  received  for  the  ten 
acres  to  be  given  to  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  the  money  to  be  paid  by  Jan- 
uary 15,  1880.  J.  B.  Ballard  was  made  treasurer,  and  agreed  to  place  in 
the  hands  of  another  a  deed  for  twenty  acres  of  land  as  security  for  the 
trust  reposed  in  his  hands. 

"  Salisbury  is  undoubtedly  the  better  location  for  the  institute,  both  because 
it  is  easier  of  access  from  the  western  part  of  the  State  and  because,  there 
being  no  high  school  in  the  place,  it  affords  a  fairer  prospect  for  academical 
students.  But  as  the  location  has  once  been  fixed  at  Concord  and  it  has 
become  evident  that  the  delay  in  securing  a  title  to  the  land  is  not  wholly 
due  to  the  trustees  of  the  camp  ground — assurance  being  given  that  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       W] 

land  donated  will  at  once  be  placed  in  possession  of  the  trustees  of  Zion 
Wesley  Institute — I  will  not  press  the  application  from  Salisbury. 

"  I  have  said  I  had  no  rose-colored  report  to  offer,  but  as  some  cloudy 
days  end  with  a  golden  sunset,  so  may  this  report  close  with  a  cheering 
statement.  Since  coming  to  Conference  the  following  brethren  have  paid 
$55.25  into  the  treasury,  which  amounts  they  had  raised  during  the  year, 
namely,  W.  J.  Moore,  A.  York,  W.  H.  Thurber,  J.  C.  Dancy,  R.  S. 
Rieves,  A.  G.  Kesler,  John  Hooper,  A.  B.  Smyer,  Z.  T.  Pearsall,  and  J.  H. 
Mattocks,  with  a  donation  of  $10  from  Bishop  Lomax.  Besides  this,  owing 
to  a  happy  forethought  of  our  silver-tongued  orator  and  the  generosity  of 
the  Conference  and  the  congregation  of  this  church,  $36.11  have  been  re- 
ceived as  the  proceeds  of  the  Thanksgiving  collection. 
"  I  now  offer  my  report  as  treasurer  of  the  institution  : 

Balance  on  hand  at  last  Conference $23  13 

Receipts  on  scholarships 37  87 

"         "    diplomas 32  25 

Collections  from  churches 4  00 

Thanksgiving  collection 36  11 

North  Carolina  Educational  Fund 40  00 

Donation  from  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood 10  00 

"  "  "      T.  H.  Lomax 10  00 

Total $193  36 

Expended  for  printing  and  distributing  diplomas  .  $27  92 
"  "  100  copies  Star  sent  to  trustees.  .  .        3  70 

"  "  circulars  and  duebills 3  60 

"  "  lecturer's  board  at  Wilson 2  75 

"  "  envelopes  and  postage 35 

38  32 

Balance  in  the  treasury $1 55  04 

"Zion  Wesley  Institute  as  an  institution  of  learning,  conceived  in  and 
thus  far  fostered  and  sustained  alone  by  the  North  Carolina  Conference, 
appeals  to  your  warmest  sympathies  and  most  energetic  labors.  I  trust 
that  though  divided  in  name  we  are  not  in  heart,  and  that  every  member, 
both  ministerial  and  lay  delegates,  will  push  forward  the  roll  of  diplomas 
and  scholarships,  and  by  no  means  neglect  the  public  collections  provided 
for  at  this  session  of  the  Conference. 

"  Respectfully  submitted,  C.  R.  Harris, 

"  Secretary  and  Treasurer  Z1071  Wesley  Itistititte. 

"  It  was  ordered  that  the  secretary  be  required  to  secure  an  engrossed  copy 
of  the  Act  of  Incorporation  from  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the  benefit  of 
the  institute. 


Il8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

"  It  was  further  ordered  that  the  words  '  Zion  Wesley  Institute  Fund '  be 
inserted  in  the  statistical  table  instead  of  '  Rush  University  Fund.' 

"  The  trustees  of  Zion  Wesley  Institute  were  instructed  to  open  the  school 
on  the  first  Monday  in  January,  1880. 

"  It  was  decided  that  the  same  rule  regulating  reports  of  scholarships  be 
applied  to  the  reports  of  diplomas  of  honor.  Reports  to  be  made  and  funds 
sent  to  the  treasurer  at  the  end  of  every  month. 

"  Subscriptions  were  then  taken  for  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  to  be  paid  by 
the  1st  of  March,  1880,  These  were  received  :  E.  C.  Davidson,  $1  ;  L.  S. 
Hurdle,  $2  ;  David  Drake,  $1.25  ;  J.  R.  Harris,  $5  ;  Thomas  W.  Payne,  $1  ; 
David  Williams,  $1  ;  Sullie  Herndon,  $1  ;  Peter  Caldwell,  $1  ;  A.  Alen,  $1 ; 
L.  R.  Ferebee,  $5  ;  Jerry  McNeill,  $2 ;  H.  M.  Mosely,  $1  ;  J.  A.  Norwood, 
$2;  John  Pillican,$i.5o;  W.D.  Dickerson, $1  ;  J.  H.  Mattocks,  $3. 

"  It  was  ordered  that  hereafter  diplomas  be  given  to  all  who  donate  $1 
(one  dollar)  or  more  to  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  the  amount  to  be  written  on 
the  diplomas  in  place  of  the  word  '  five  ; '  also  that  all  outstanding  due- 
bills  be  canceled  on  the  same  conditions." 

The  institute  was  adopted  by  the  General  Conference 
which  met  in  Montgomery  in  1880,  and  Rev.  C.  R.  Har- 
ris was  continued  as  principal. 

The  Ecumenical  Conference  in  London,  in  1881,  was 
seized  upon  by  the  bishop  of  the  Third  Episcopal  District 
as  a  favorable  opportunity  to  put  the  institute  on  a  firm 
footing;  and  to  that  end  he  selected  Rev.  J.  C.  Price  to 
accompany  him  to  England  as  a  delegate  to  the  great 
Conference.  Not  even  Price  himself  knew  the  bishop's 
purpose  in  selecting  him.  On  their  way  to  England 
the  bishop  informed  Price  what  he  desired  him  to  do. 
Price  agreed  to  undertake  the  agency,  and  he  and  the 
bishop  began  to  arrange  their  plans  as  soon  as  they 
reached  England.  They  did  not  take  a  pleasure  trip  over 
Europe,  as  other  delegates  did,  but  watched  their  oppor- 
tunity ;  it  soon  came,  providentially,  as  it  appeared,  and 
the  result  was  that  by  the  time  the  Conference  closed  a 
board  of  Englishmen  had  been  appointed  to  take  charge 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       I  19 

of  the  finances,  and  appointments  had  been  made  for 
Price  for  a  period  of  several  weeks.  In  less  than  a 
year's  time  he  collected  $10,000. 

When  it  was  learned  on  this  side  that  Price  was  suc- 
ceeding so  well  the  white  people  in  Salisbury  became  in- 
terested and  offered  $1 ,000  toward  the  purchase  of  a  lot  if 
we  would  move  the  college  to  that  city.  The  offer  was 
accepted,  and  in  the  spring  of  1882  the  present  site  was 
secured. 

Because  Price  had  been  successful  in  collecting  a  large 
amount  of  money,  and  because  much  more  was  needed, 
which  it  was  hoped  he  might  be  instrumental  in  raising, 
the  Board  of  Bishops,  at  their  meeting  at  Chester,  S.  C, 
in  September,  1882,  elected  him  president,  notwithstand- 
ing Rev.  C.  R.  Harris  was  the  senior  teacher  in  the  in- 
stitution and  one  of  the  best  disciplinarians  that  ever 
walked  into  a  schoolroom.  In  fact,  we  have  known  but 
few  teachers  who  were  the  equal  of  Bishop  Harris. 

During  this  period  the  Church  has  had  two  severe 
trials  to  pass  through,  but  passed  through  both  without  ap- 
parent injury.  The  first  grew  out  of  a  misunderstanding 
respecting  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  General  Conference 
in  1872.  Bishop  Jones,  who  was  sent  to  Chicago  as  a  del- 
egate, with  a  proposal  for  a  consolidation  with  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  finding  that  the  union  could  not 
be  effected  at  that  time,  entered  into  an  agreement  to 
continue  the  effort  for  the  ensuing  four  years ;  and  as  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  General  Conference  had  agreed  to 
meet  in  Brooklyn  he  agreed  to  use  his  influence  with  his 
body  to  have  it  meet  in  New  York,  so  that  the  two  General 

Conferences,  being  near  together,  could  the  more  easily 
10 


120  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

consider  the  matter.  But  when  Bishop  Jones  got  back  to 
Washington  he  found  but  little  union  sentiment.  We  at 
Washington  had  gathered  from  the  newspapers  the  real 
sentiment  of  that  body,  and  had  fully  realized  that  Bishop 
Haven  could  not  secure  for  us  what  he  desired,  and  he 
was  not  willing  to  ask  us  to  accept  less  than  a  full  recog- 
nition of  our  Christian  manhood.  Bishop  Haven's  prop- 
osition was  that  in  case  of  union  we  should  have  a  pro 
rata  representation  in  the  Episcopal  Board,  and  that  in 
all  other  respects  we  should  have  such  recognition  as  our 
numbers  entitled  us  to.  But  it  was  soon  discovered  that 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as  a  whole  was  not  ready 
for  that.  But  Bishop  Jones  was  kept  so  completely  sur- 
rounded with  the  enthusiastic  friends  of  the  movement, 
who  hoped  against  hope,  that  it  was  impossible  for  him 
to  take  in  the  situation.  Having  agreed  to  do  what  he 
could  to  have  his  General  Conference  meet  in  New  York, 
he  felt  bound  to  do  so.  But  when  he  stated  the  agree- 
ment and  asked  the  General  Conference  to  agree  to  go  to 
New  York  the  point  of  order  was  made  that  he  was  dis- 
cussing a  question  already  settled,  as  we  had  already 
agreed  to  meet  in  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

The  brother  who  made  the  motion  to  meet  in  Charlotte 
had  no  notion  of  changing  it,  but  a  sense  of  justice  in- 
duced him  to  secure  for  Bishop  Jones  a  fair  hearing  ;  he 
therefore  moved  to  reconsider  the  motion  by  which  it  was 
agreed  to  meet  in  Charlotte.  Bishop  Jones  made  his 
statement  and  the  Conference  adjourned  without  any 
further  action.  The  matter  was  overlooked  the  next 
morning,  and  the  General  Conference  finally  adjourned 
without  fixing  its  next  place  of  meeting.     About  a  year 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       121 

before  the  time  for  the  General  Conference  to  meet  the 
matter  came  up  at  the  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Bishops. 
Bishop  Jones  held  that  the  purpose  of  the  General  Con- 
ference in  reconsidering  the  motion  to  meet  in  Charlotte 
was  that  it  might  be  changed  to  New  York.  The  other 
bishops  disagreed  with  him  and  voted  to  hold  the  General 
Conference  at  Charlotte,  N.  C.  They  also  voted  to  meet 
on  June  19  instead  of  May  25. 

It  happened  that  Bishop  Jones  was  chairman  of  the 
board,  and  he  assumed  to  veto  the  action  of  his  colleagues. 
He  published  that  the  action  of  the  board  was  unlawful,  and 
as  chairman  it  was  his  duty  to  see  that  the  law  was  carried 
out,  and  that  the  General  Conference  would  meet  in  New 
York  on  the  day  fixed  by  law.  The  other  bishops  carried 
the  question  to  the  Annual  Conferences,  and  the  result 
was  that  sixteen  Conferences  voted  to  sustain  the  action 
of  the  majority  of  the  bishops.  Nevertheless  Bishop 
Jones,  with  representatives  from  two  or  three  Confer- 
ences, met  in  New  York  on  May  25.  There  being  no 
quorum  present,  they  adjourned  to  meet  in  Charlotte  on 
June  19.  Bishop  Jones  claimed  that  by  this  action  they 
had  made  the  June  meeting  a  legal  one. 

As  to  the  date  of  meeting,  we  think  Bishop  Jones  was 
correct.  May  25  had  been  fixed  in  the  Discipline  as  the 
day  on  which  the  General  Conference  should  meet ;  it  had 
stood  so  for  years,  and  the  Board  of  Bishops  at  that  time 
was  not  authorized  to  change  it.  As  to  the  place,  since 
that  had  been  left  unfixed  by  the  General  Conference 
there  was  no  other  authority  to  fix  it  but  the  board.  In 
defending  his  position  at  the  General  Conference  Bishop 
Jones  made  one  of  his  four  great  speeches.     He  spoke 


122  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

for  four  hours,  and  if  a  vote  had  been  taken  at  the  close 
of  his  speech,  as  his  friends  desired,  he  would  have 
carried  a  considerable  portion  of  the  General  Conference 
with  him.  But  Bishop  Clinton  followed  the  next  day  with 
a  four  hours'  speech  and  carried  the  Conference  his  way. 
Bishop  Jones  saw  that  the  odds  were  against  him,  and 
gracefully  surrendered,  and  the  matter  was  amicably  set- 
tled. To  avoid  any  such  trouble  in  future  the  Board  of 
Bishops  was  authorized  to  change  either  time  or  place  of 
the  meeting  of  General  Conference,  should  it  become 
necessary. 

The  other  trouble  to  which  we  have  referred  grew  out 
of  the  trial  of  Bishop  Hilliery.  That  threatened  at  one 
time  to  become  a  very  serious  matter.  The  conduct  of 
Hilliery  had  become  such  that  there  were  frequent  com- 
plaints. His  intemperance  had  become  notorious.  His 
conduct  with  females  was  such  that  families  who  gladly 
entertained  other  bishops  would  not  admit  him  to  their 
houses  at  all.  There  were  most  scandalous  reports 
respecting  him.  All  the  other  bishops  were  urged  by 
leading  members  to  do  something  to  stop  Hilliery  from 
disgracing  the  connection.  The  bishops  all  talked  to  him, 
but  he  wholly  disregarded  their  reproof.  He  claimed  that 
they  were  jealous  of  his  talents  and  influence,  that  he  was 
the  only  educated  man  among  us  and  the  only  original 
Zionite  on  the  Board.  The  rest  of  us,  he  said,  had  all 
come  from  some  other  Church  and  were  combined  against 
him,  the  only  "true  blue."  We  presume  that  Bishops 
Moore,  Jones,  and  Thompson  were  members  of  Zion 
Church  before  he  was  born. 

The  complaints  continued  unabated,  and  finally,  at  a 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 23 

meeting  of  the  Board  of  Bishops  in  Petersburg-,  Va., 
March,  1883,  charges  were  formulated  and  signed  by 
Bishop  Thompson  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  Bishop 
Hood,  who  had  charge  of  the  Kentucky  Conference. 
The  charges  did  not  include  the  grosser  matter,  but  a 
few  of  the  minor  complaints.  It  was  hoped  that  the 
calling  him  up  on  these  minor  complaints  would  induce 
him  to  reform.  It  was  possibly  unfortunate  that  the  case 
went  to  the  Kentucky  Conference,  as  it  was  said  that  a 
majority  of  that  Conference  was  pledged  to  stand  by 
him,  right  or  wrong.  He  had  charge  of  that  Conference 
the  year  previous,  and  was  charged  with  giving  the  best 
appointments  to  certain  men  for  a  consideration.  The 
majority  of  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  voted  that  the 
charges  were  not  sustained;  the  chairman  fully  believed 
that  they  were  sustained.  There  is  a  provision  in  the 
Discipline  respecting  the  trial  of  members  that  if  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  disagrees  with  a  majority  of 
the  committee  respecting  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the 
accused  he  may  carry  the  case  to  the  appellate  court. 
Under  this  law  the  chairman  decided  to  carry  the  case  to 
the  General  Conference. 

The  question  then  arose  as  to  what  position  that  placed 
Hilliery  in  until  the  sitting  of  the  General  Conference. 
The  bishop  was  a  little  slow  about  ruling  on  that  ques- 
tion. Rev.  E.  H.  Curry  pressed  him  for  a  decision. 
After  consulting  with  Bishops  Jones  and  Thompson,  who 
were  present,  the  chairman  decided  that  it  left  his  case 
pending  and  silenced  him  until  it  could  be  settled  in  the 
General  Conference. 

From  this  decision  Hilliery  appealed,  but  his  appeal 


124  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

could  only  be  settled  by  the  General  Conference;  for 
there  is  no  appeal  from  a  bishop's  decision  rendered  in 
the  Annual  Conference  except  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence. 

Hilliery  then  went  to  Philadelphia  and  got  together  a 
committee  to  try  Bishop  Hood  for  maladministration, 
based  wholly  upon  his  rulings.  Without  the  prelimina- 
ries which  the  law  requires,  and  without  waiting  to  hear 
from  Bishop  Hood,  the  committee  declared  him  suspended. 
The  Board  of  Bishops  declared  the  action  of  this  com- 
mittee null  and  void. 

Hilliery's  next  hope  was  to  preside  at  the  Virginia 
Conference,  notwithstanding  the  Board  had  designated 
Bishop  Jones  to  hold  that  Conference.  Hilliery  hoped 
by  this  means  to  secure  a  delegation  to  the  General  Con- 
ference and  thus  be  able  to  threaten  a  split  in  the  con- 
nection. But  the  Virginia  Conference  stood  by  Bishop 
Jones,  and  Hilliery  was  left  without  a  following. 

At  the  General  Conference  the  first  thing  to  settle  was 
as  to  whether  or  not  Bishop  Hood  was  correct  in  his 
rulings,  i.  That  the  bishop,  sitting  as  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Whole,  in  the  trial  of  a  minister,  may 
dissent  from  the  decision  of  the  majority  and  carry  the 
case  to  the  General  Conference.  2.  Does  such  action 
silence  the  defendant?  There  were  some  other  minor 
points  on  which  the  bishop  ruled  during  the  trial  which 
were  in  Hilliery's  favor,  and  from  which  the  counsel  for  the 
Church  appealed.  After  the  whole  matter  was  fully  dis- 
cussed a  resolution  was  adopted  confirming  all  of  Bishop 
Hood's  decisions. 

These,  however,  did  not  touch  the  merits  of  Hilliery's 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       12  5 

case.  It  was  in  substance  only  a  declaration  that  the 
matter  was  properly  before  the  General  Conference.  If 
Hilliery  had  then  acknowledged  his  fault  and  promised 
to  do  better  he  would  have  been  borne  with,  but  he 
seemed  determined  to  go  to  destruction.  He  finally  com- 
pelled the  General  Conference,  by  his  own  conduct,  to 
unclothe  him  of  the  bishopric  and  to  send  the  charges  to 
an  Annual  Conference,  on  which  he  was  tried  and  de- 
prived of  all  ministerial  functions.  He  sued  two  of  the 
bishops  for  $25,000  damage,  but  finally  had  the  costs  to 
pay.  He  then  sued  the  Connection  for  $10,400,  and  the 
costs  fell  upon  him  again ;  and  thus  ended  one  of  the  most 
trying  difficulties  with  which  the  Church  has  had  to  con- 
tend. We  think  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  Church 
and  the  sagacity  of  its  bishops  are  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  we  were  able  to  unclothe  a  bishop  without  splitting 
a  single  church  or  losing  a  member.  When  we  consider 
the  effort  he  put  forth  to  carry  ministers  and  people  with 
him  it  is  truly  remarkable  that  he  accomplished  nothing 
in  that  direction.  He  moved  into  a  town  in  which  he 
was  once  very  popular  and  married  into  one  of  the  best 
families,  hoping  thus  to  get  a  hold  upon  the  Church 
through  his  wife's  relatives.  But  he  failed,  and  then 
forsook  his  wife.  Having  borne  our  full  share  of  that 
trouble,  we  hope  never  to  have  another  like  it.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  Connection  will  never  again  exalt  such 
a  man  to  that  high  position.  His  election  was  the  result 
of  a  combination  engineered  by  himself.  A  man  truly 
called  to  the  office  of  bishop  does  not  have  any  of  that 
kind  of  work  to  perform  to  get  there.  If  you  see  a  man 
scheming  to  get  into  that  office  you  may  know  that  he 


126  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

is  not  a  suitable  person  to  fill  it.  If  lie  is  the  right  man 
the  office  will  come  to  him  without  any  scheming  on  his 
part.  Since  the  end  of  our  trouble  with  Hilliery  we 
have  had  smooth  sailing.  There  is  now  the  most  perfect 
harmony  among  the  bishops,  and  each  is  doing  what  he 
can  to  build  up  the  connection. 

The  General  Conference  which  met  in  New  York  city 
in  1884  made  appropriations  for  the  several  institutions 
as  follows:  Livingstone,'55' $6,000;  Book  Concern,  $1,500; 
Star  of  Zion,  $1,200;  superannuated  ministers,  $1,000; 
African  Mission,  $800.  These  appropriations  were  made 
on  the  recommendation  of  the  bishops,  notwithstanding 
they  were  fully  aware  that  it  would  prevent  them  from 
getting  more  than  two  thirds  of  their  salary  for  the  en- 
suing four  years.  They  believed  that  the  Church  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  would  be  able  to  meet  all  its  de- 
mands, but,  whatever  happened  to  them,  they  felt  that 
these  institutions  could  not  be  permitted  to  languish  for 
the  want  of  the  necessary  means ;  hence  the  bishops  rec- 
ommended the  appropriations,  so  that  the  institutions 
might  be  liberally  provided  for.  Some  who  were  per- 
sonally benefited  by  their  great  sacrifice  have  not  shown 
the  gratitude  that  might  have  been  expected ;  but  there 
is  a  day  coming  when  all  shall  get  what  is  due. 

This  General  Conference  did  one  very  foolish  thing: 
it  elected  Rev.  A.  L.  Scott  editor  of  the  Star  of  Zion. 
Scott  was  a  very  uncertain  quantity  at  best.  He  had 
recently  come  from  some  other  Church  and  sprang  up 
among  us  like  a  mushroom.     He  had  a  kind  of  "  sing- 

*  The  act  of  incorporation  of  Zion  Wesley  Institute  was  changed  in 
several  respects.     The  title  was  changed  to  Livingstone  College. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       127 

song  "  eloquence  in  preaching  which  was  quite  agreeable 
to  many  intelligent  hearers,  but  he  was  a  great  rambler. 
He  was  but  little  acquainted  with  the  rules  of  compo- 
sition, and  had  none  of  the  qualifications  of  an  editor, 
unless  brass  is  a  qualification.  It  may  appear  strange 
that  the  General  Conference  should  elect  such  a  man  ;  but 
such  bodies  are  sometimes  led  by  influences  which  they 
do  not  take  time  to  investigate,  and  have  to  repent  at 
leisure  what  was  done  in  haste.  This  foolish  thing  was 
done  for  spite,  so  the  brother  who  engineered  it  confessed 
after  he  had  accomplished  his  purpose.  One  of  the  bish- 
ops had  said  that  J.  C.  Dancy  was  better  situated  to  take 
charge  of  the  Star  than  anyone  else  he  knew  of  at  the 
time.  At  this  several  ministers  took  offense.  The  bishop 
did  not  say  then  what  we  will  say  now,  that  in  our  opin- 
ion Zion  Connection  has  not  raised  up  another  man  who 
is  the  equal  of  Dancy  as  an  editor.  It  is  his  peculiar 
calling.  But  the  impression  was  pretty  general  that  that 
in  substance  was  the  bishop's  meaning.  The  brother 
who  engineered  the  election  of  Scott  took  very  great 
offense.  He  was  connected  with  the  large  delegation 
from  Alabama,  of  which  Scott  was  also  a  member.  He 
got  that  delegation  to  agree  to  vote  unitedly  for  any  one 
of  its  members  named  for  any  position ;  he  then  sprang 
the  nomination  of  Scott  upon  the  unsuspecting  General 
Conference,  and  he  was  elected.  The  movers  in  this 
spiteful  affair,  however,  were  not  the  men  who  watched 
the  proceedings  most  closely ;  they  frequently  spent  hours 
sight-seeing  when  important  business  was  being  trans- 
acted. Some  men  are  seldom  absent  in  time  of  business. 
Having  accomplished  the  election  of  Scott,  the  movers  in 


128  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

this  measure  went  the  next  day,  in  time  of  business,  out 
to  Central  Park ;  while  they  were  gone  the  Conference  took 
action  which  effectually  put  it  out  of  Scott's  power  to 
take  charge  of  the  paper.  A  motion  was  adopted  that 
all  the  money  coming  from  the  General  Fund  should  be 
paid  on  the  debt  of  the  Star  until  that  debt  was  settled, 
which  amounted  to  $925.  For  this  debt  Rev.  J.  McH. 
Farley  was  responsible.  He  was  also  business  manager, 
and  authorized  to  receive  all  moneys.  This  left  nothing 
for  Scott  to  work  with,  and,  failing  to  do,  he  became 
liable  to  the  charge  of  neglecting  his  duty.  Thus,  prov- 
identially, the  connection  was  saved  the  disgrace  of  hav- 
ing an  unsuitable  person  as  editor  jof  our  Church  organ. 

We  may  learn  from  this  whole  transaction  the  impor- 
tance of  paying  attention  to  business  and  keeping  our 
personal  feelings  out  of  our  ecclesiastical  duties.  In  this 
case,  to  prevent  a  connectional  disaster,  a  remedy  had  to 
be  applied  which  might  have  proven  as  bad  as  the  dis- 
ease. Farley  might,  with  the  power  the  General  Con- 
ference gave  him,  have  kept  that  paper  in  his  own  hands 
for  four  years,  to  its  great  injury.  Those  who  put  that 
power  in  his  hands  believed  that  he  would  surrender 
when  a  better  arrangement  could  be  made,  and  he  did 
not  disappoint  them.  But  such  dangerous  remedies 
should  never  be  needed,  and  they  would  not  be  if  men 
would  act  from  reason  and  not  from  passion. 

There  are  many  men  who  are  not  good  judges  of  the 
qualifications  of  men  for  certain  positions.  When  we 
have  those  who  are  experts  on  that  line  we  ought  to  give 
their  opinion  calm  and  careful  consideration ;  we  ought 
not  to  fly  in  a  passion  because  they  express  opinions 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.       1 29 

respecting  a  matter  which  we  think  is  an  overestimate. 
We  are  as  likely  to  be  mistaken  as  they  are,  and  in  any 
case  they  are  entitled  to  their  opinion.  Besides  this,  envy 
is  an  indication  of  weakness,  and  is  very  sinful.  It  was 
envy  that  induced  the  first  murder. 

The  General  Conference  which  met  in  New  Berne, 
N.  C,  in  May,  1888,  did  less  in  the  way  of  lawmaking 
than  any  that  has  assembled  within  our  knowledge. 
Two  bishops  were  added  to  the  bench,  namely,  Charles 
C.  Pettey  and  Cicero  R.  Harris.  Possibly  the  most  im- 
portant thing  was  the  making  of  Bishop  Thompson  chair- 
man of  the  Book  Room  and  authorizing  the  bishop  to 
make  whatever  changes  were  necessary  to  put  that  insti- 
tution in  good  running  order.  The  Book  Concern  is  the 
oldest  institution  in  the  connection,  but  it  had  not  up  to 
that  time  been  a  paying  institution.  Several  thousand 
dollars  had  been  sunk  in  it  with  not  much  to  show  for  it. 
It  is  now  in  a  hopeful  condition. 


I30  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


CHAPTER  IV. 

BETHEL  VERSUS  ZION. 

The  first  account  of  contention  among  Christians  was 
at  Corinth.  The  seeds  of  contention  there  sown  have 
produced  a  fearful  crop.  The  contention  has  not  been 
limited  to  individual  Christians,  but  has  extended  to 
Christian  bodies.  Not  only  has  one  said,  "I  am  for 
Paul,"  and  another,  "I  am  for  Apollos,"  but  each  has 
anathematized  the  other.  One  Christian  body  has  tried 
to  destroy  another  Christian  body.  This  spirit,  in  our 
opinion,  is  that  beast  which  is  to  be  destroyed  before  the 
millennium.  See  Rev.  xix,  19,  20.  This  beast  is  sup- 
posed to  symbolize  papacy.  And  so  it  may  symbolize  the 
persecuting  spirit  of  papacy.  But  that  spirit  is  just  as 
bad  anywhere  else  as  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  That 
Church  has  had  a  better  opportunity  to  exhibit  its 
persecuting  disposition  than  any  other.  We  believe 
there  are  other  Churches  which  have  the  disposition  to 
swallow  every  other  Church  in  as  large  a  degree  as  the 
Church  of  Rome.  And  we  presume  that  nearly  every 
branch  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  opposed  by 
some  one  particular  branch  more  than  all  others.  The 
conflict  between  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  in  Eng- 
land and  the  Primitive  Methodist  Church  was  the  cause 
of  the  only  unpleasant  episode  that  occurred  in  the  sit- 
tings of  the  great  Ecumenical  Conference  in  Washington, 
D.  C,  in  1891.     A  person  who  watched  closely  could  see 


AFRICAN   METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       131 

that  there  was  a  pretty  sharp  contest  between  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  and  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South. 

Fit  has  fallen  to  the  lot  of  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church  to  have  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal (Bethel)  Church  as  its  great  antagonist.  That  Church 
has  shown  more  opposition  to  Zion  than  all  others  put 
together.  There  has  been  much  talk  of  union  between 
the  two  Churches,  but  there  is  in  fact  very  little  union 
sentiment  in  Bethel  Church,  either  among  members  or 
ministers.  There  has  never  been  much  desire  in  that 
Church  for  a  union  with  Zion.  There  has  been  a  desire 
in  that  Church  from  its  earliest  existence  to  absorb  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  Bishop  Allen 
was  hardly  warm  in  his  office  before  he  cast  an  avari- 
cious eye  upon  the  little  nucleus  of  the  rising  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection,  the  Zion  and  As- 
bury  Churches.  He  found  himself  a  bishop  with  only 
two  churches.  There  was  an  independent  colored  Meth- 
odist Church  in  Wilmington,  Del.,  but  Peter  Spencer 
had  been  made  the  chief  minister  of  that  organization, 
and  was  Allen's  senior  by  three  years,  and  a  man  of 
strong  will,  great  energy,  and  a  natural  born  leader. 
There  was,  therefore,  no  chance  for  Bishop  Allen  to  ex- 
tend his  episcopal  oversight  in  that  direction.  The  only 
other  colored  Methodist  Churches  North  at  that  time 
were  the  Zion  and  Asbury  Churches  in  New  York  city, 
and  a  few  other  small  organizations  in  that  vicinity,  con- 
nected with  them.  To  these  he  went,  hoping  they 
would  recognize  his  bishopric  and  take  shelter  within 
his  fold.      His  followers  long  cherished  that  hope.      His 


132  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

appearance  among  them  was  entirely  too  arrogant,  espe- 
cially so  in  consideration  of  the  fact  that  they  knew  from 
whence  his  bishopric  was  derived.  He  failed  utterly 
with  Zion,  but  through  the  influence  of  William  Miller, 
who  united  with  him,  he  secured  a  portion  of  the 
members  of  Asbury  Church,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
form  the  nucleus  of  his  Church  in  that  city.  He  also 
captured  the  church  at  Flushing,  L.  I.  These  were 
the  first  secessions  from  the  Zion  Connection,  and  were 
induced  by  the  bishop  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  which  thing  has  been  occasionally  repeated 
and  has  been  a  cause  of  bitterness  between  the  two 
Churches. 

A  little  later  some  of  the  Zion  brothers  went  to  Phila- 
delphia and  received  the  Wesley  Church,  which  Bishop 
Allen  expected  to  cover  in  that  city,  and  this  was  re- 
garded as  secession  from  Bethel ;  and  from  that  time 
onward,  occasionally,  a  church  has  been  detached  from 
one  of  these  organizations  and  taken  into  the  other. 
The  Bethel  Churches  in  Middletown,  N.  Y.,  Middletown, 
Pa.,  and  in  York  and  Mechanicsburg  of  the  latter  State, 
and  St.  Paul's  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Washington,  are  all  splits  from  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church.  The  same  is  true  as  to  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  at  Kingston  and 
Elmira,  N.  Y.  The  Bethel  Church  at  Bridgeport,  Conn., 
was  originally  a  Zion  Church ;  some  Bethel  members 
from  other  places  became  connected  therewith  and  suc- 
ceeded in  electing  a  majority  of  the  board  of  trustees, 
and  these  voted  to  have  a  Bethel  minister.  When  this 
was  done  the   Zion    people  left  their  own   church   and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 33 

built  another.  Bethel  still  has  our  church.  During  the 
last  ten  years  we  have  occupied  a  few  churches  which 
formerly  belonged  to  Bethel ;  but  in  each  case  we  have 
stepped  in  and  bought  the  church  after  they  had  lost  it. 
We  have  not  stolen  any  of  their  churches.  That  Church 
has  through  all  its  history  been  making  attacks  upon  us 
from  one  standpoint  or  another.  One  of  the  stories  which 
has  been  circulated  by  them  is  that  Zion  is  a  split  from 
Bethel.  The  only  possible  foundation  for  this  story  is 
that  in  a  few  instances  Churches  have  split  off  from 
Bethel  and  come  to  Zion.  But  for  this  very  same  reason 
Bethel  might  with  greater  propriety  be  called  a  split  from 
Zion,  for  the  third  church  that  Bethel  had  was  a  split 
from  Zion.  But  in  perfect  fairness  it  cannot  be  said  that 
either  is  a  split  from  the  other.  Both  cf  these  Churches 
came  out  from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Zion  in 
New  York  and  Bethel  in  Philadelphia,  and  each  inde- 
pendent of  the  other.  Each  is  an  offshoot  from  the 
mother  of  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches. 

Bethel  has  claimed  to  be  the  older  Church,  and  has 
used  this  claim  very  freely  in  her  attempts  to  supplant 
Zion  in  places  where  Zion  had  the  start.  This  claim,  for 
many  years,  was  based  upon  the  idea  that  Zion  was 
formed  in  1820.  This  idea  is  erroneous.  About  1821 
is  the  time  when  the  first  regular  Conference  was  held. 
The  Church  had  then  been  in  existence  about  twenty-five 
years.  It  was  incorporated  in  the  year  1 80 1 .  The  Act  of 
Incorporation  is  still  on  record  in  New  York  city.  The 
Church  was  organized  in  1796,  and  was  beyond  all  ques- 
tion the  first  Methodist  Church,  white  or  colored,  that 
was    formed   independent   of    the    Methodist    Episcopal 


134  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Church.  -The  organization  was  composed  of  colored 
members  of  the  John  Street  Methodist  Church,  the  first 
of  American  Methodist  Churches.  The  title  under  which 
it  was  incorporated  was  "  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church;  "  but  because  the  first  Church  was  called  Zion, 
and  to  distinguish  ourselves  from  Bethel  Church,  which 
took  the  same  title,  "  Zion  "  was  added  as  a  part  of  the 
connectional  title.  Up  to  1864  the  connections  were 
generally  spoken  of  as  Bethel  and  Zion,  and  in  many- 
places  in  the  North  they  are  still  so  designated.  In 
going  South  the  Bethel  people  undertook  to  represent 
their  Church  as  preeminently  the  ' '  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,"  and  to  that  end  they  tried  to  drop 
the  "  Bethel."  We  say  "  tried,"  for  they  did  not  always 
succeed ;  sometimes  a  Church  was  organized  by  a  minis- 
ter accustomed  to  harping  on  Bethel,  and  in  such  places 
Bethel  became  as  "  pat  "  as  it  is  in  Philadelphia. 

The  fact  that  Zion  Church  had  the  service  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  preachers  up  to  1820  is  taken  as 
evidence  that  Zion  had  not  separated  from  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church ;  but  the  kind  of  service  received  from 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  that  time  might  be 
received  now.  As  a  matter  of  convenience  Methodist 
Episcopal  preachers,  for  a  consideration,  might  render 
all  the  service  now  which  was  then  rendered  without 
interfering  with  our  independence ;  they  simply  preached 
and  administered  the  sacrament.  This  service  was  ren- 
dered under  articles  of  agreement  between  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America 
on  the  one  part  and  the  trustees  of  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  on  the  other  part. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        1 35 

In  this  agreement  two  distinct  Church  organizations 
are  recognized,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  And  this  agree- 
ment was  made  in  April,  1801.  Here  the  record  shows 
that  Zion  Church  in  1 80 1  at  New  York  was  recognized 
as  an  independent  body  known  as  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church.  Article  V  provides  and  declares 
that  none  but  Africans  and  their  descendants  shall  be 
chosen  as  trustees  of  this  Church,  or  of  any  other  Church 
property  under  this  incorporation.  In  Article  VI  it  was 
provided  that  no  persons  should  be  admitted  into  close 
connection  with  their  classes,  or  be  enrolled  on  their 
books  as  members,  other  than  Africans  or  their  de- 
scendants. 

The  fact  that  there  were  five  churches  represented  and 
six  or  eight  ministers  present  at  the  first  Conference 
shows  that  they  had  been  working  up  a  connection  prior 
to  that  time.  Bishop  Jones,  in  his  generosity,  admitted 
that  while  as  a  Church  Zion  was  the  older  body,  yet 
Bethel  established  her  itinerant  system  first.  I  am  not 
sure  that  we  should  admit  that  much.  Bishop  Jones  was 
so  anxious  for  a  union  between  the  two  bodies  that  he 
always  handled  Bethel  as  tenderly  as  possible,  except 
when  they  drew  him  out  by  some  unreasonable  assump- 
tion. At  Columbia,  S.  C,  eight  hundred  members  in  a 
body  went  out  from  Bethel  and  sent  for  one  of  Zion's 
bishops  to  go  and  receive  them  into  our  connection. 
Unfortunately  for  Zion,  Bishop  Jones  was  then  on  that 
district,  and  when  he  went  to  receive  them  they  wanted 
an  assurance  from  him  that  there  was  no  likelihood  of  a 

union  between  Zion  and  Bethel.     Negotiations  were  then 
11 


136  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  progress,  and  Bishop  Jones  had  great  hope  of  union, 
and  manifested  vexation  at  their  request  for  such  an 
assurance.  He  failed  to  receive  them.  Had  this  writer 
been  there  he  would  have  received  them.  He  could  hon- 
estly have  given  the  assurance  they  wanted,  for  he  has 
never,  since  1864,  thought  there  was  any  likelihood  of  a 
union.  Bishop  Jones  could  not  honestly  have  given  such 
assurance ;  his  desire  for  union  was  so  great  that  he 
thought  he  could  see  it  coming. 

Since  it  has  been  shown  that  1796  was  the  date  of  the 
organization  of  Zion  Church  some  men  in  Bethel  Church 
have  attempted  to  get  behind  that  date  and  to  claim  that 
the  first  movement  for  the  organization  of  Bethel  Church 
was  in  1787 ;  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  get  up  a  cen- 
tennial celebration  in  1887,  but  it  proved  a  most  ridicu- 
lous failure,  because  it  was  known  to  be  a  sham.  Their 
history  shows  that  Richard  Allen,  their  founder  and  their 
first  bishop,  was  a  member  of  the  Quarterly  Conference 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  1 804.  If  he  founded 
a  separate  Church  in  1787,  how  was  it  that  he  continued 
a  member  of  the  Quarterly  Conference  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  in  1804?  It  will  not  do  to  make  a  man 
too  many  things  at  once.  There  was  a  movement  about 
1787,  but  it  was  not  the  Bethel  movement,  nor  did  it  result 
in  establishing  an  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  It 
is  quite  likely  that  it  had  that  object  in  view  in  its  incep- 
tion, but  if  it  had  it  was  turned  aside  from  its  purpose. 

About  this  period,  or  a  little  later,  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  the  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in 
Philadelphia  desired  to  have  a  church  and  preacher  of 
their  own.     The  authorities  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 37 

Church  refused  to  grant  their  request.  They  appealed  to 
Bishop  White,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  He 
agreed  to  their  request  provided  they  would  unite  with 
his  Church.-  They  agreed,  and  Absalom  Jones  was  taken 
under  course  of  instruction,  and  ordained,  first  a  deacon 
and  afterward  a  priest.  Thus  was  formed  St.  Thomas's 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  This  was  the  result  of  the 
movement  in  1787,  or  later,  of  which  historians  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  have  made  so  much, 
and  which  they  have  tried  to  make  people  believe  had 
some  connection  with  the  history  of  the  formation  of  their 
Church,  which,  according  to  their  own  history,  took  place 
twenty-nine  years  later. 

This  story  reminds  us  of  an  anecdote  we  have  heard 
told  of  a  slaveholder  who  frequently  spun  hard  yarns, 
and  if  they  were  doubted  would  turn  to  a  slave  boy,  who 
was  pretty  good  at  fixing  up  such  stories,  to  substantiate 
what  he  had  said.  One  day  he  told  a  story  of  an  extraor- 
dinary shot  he  had  made.  He  had  put  a  ball  through 
a  deer's  right  hind  foot  and  right  ear.  When  the  crowd 
seemed  to  be  doubtful  the  boy  was  appealed  to  as  usual. 
"  Yes,  that's  so,"  said  the  boy.  One  of  the  crowd  then 
asked,  ' '  How  was  it  done,  Sam  ?  "  "  Why, "  replied  Sam, 
"  just  as  massa  was  about  to  shoot  the  deer  put  up  his  hind 
foot  to  scratch  his  ear  and  the  ball  passed  through  both." 
He  got  his  master  out  of  the  difficulty,  but  when  they  were 
alone  again  he  said,  "  Massa,  don't  spread  the  ball  so 
much  next  time ;  I  had  hard  work  to  get  that  one  together." 

This  story  of  twenty-nine  years  from  the  time  they 
began  to  organize  till  the  organization  was  an  accom- 
plished fact  is  spreading  it  out  pretty  well.     It  will  take 


138  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

a  mighty  scratching-  of  the  ear  with  the  hind  foot  to  get 
that  ball  through  both  these  periods. 

Bishop  Allen,  according  to  his  own  statement,  given 
by  Bishop  D.  A.  Payne  in  his  History  of  the  African 
MetJwdist  Episcopal  Church  (vol.  i,  chapter  xi),  made  no 
attempt  to  organize  an  African  Methodist  Church  until 
about  1793,  and  that  proved  a  failure.  Bishop  Allen, 
speaking  of  the  church  erected  at  that  time,  says : 

"  We  intended  it  for  the  African  preaching  house  or  church  ;  but  finding 
the  elder  stationed  in  the  city  was  such  an  opposer  of  our  proceedings  of 
erecting  a  place  of  worship,  though  the  principal  part  of  the  directors  of 
this  church  belonged  to  the  Methodist  Connection,  and  that  he  would 
neither  preach  for  us  nor  have  anything  to  do  with  us,  we  held  an  election 
to  know  what  religious  denomination  we  would  unite  with.  At  this 
election  it  was  determined.  There  were  two  in  favor  of  the  Methodist, 
Rev.  Absalom  Jones  and  myself,  and  a  large  majority  in  favor  of  the 
Church  of  England.     This  majority  carried." 

Thus  it  is  seen  in  this  history  of  Bishop  Allen,  written 
by  himself,  that  his  effort  to  provide  a  preaching  house 
for  colored  Methodist  preachers  was  a  total  failure. 
When  the  test  came  there  was  only  one  besides  himself 
who  favored  remaining  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  preference  of  that  one  (Absalom  Jones) 
was  overcome  by  Bishop  White,  who  ordained  him  a 
deacon  and  made  him  pastor  of  this  colored  flock  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

But  what  was  this  movement  which  failed?  Certainly 
it  was  not  a  movement  looking  to  the  establishment  of 
an  independent  African  Church.  That  seems  not  to 
have  been  thought  of.  The  only  question  considered 
was  which  of  the  white  denominations  they  chose  to 
adhere  to. 

Mr.  Allen  was  offered  the  pastorate  of  this  flock,  but 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 39 

he  refused  it,  declaring  that  he  could  not  be  any  other 
but  a.  Methodist.  Though  the  ministers  had  not  treated 
him  nor  his  people  fairly,  he  saw  nothing  to  do  but 
remain  under  them.  We  have  the  notion  that  if  the 
idea  of  an  independent  African  Methodist  Church  had 
dawned  upon  him  as  it  did  upon  James  Varick  he 
might  have  held  that  people  over  whom  he  was  having 
so  great  influence. 

In  1794  he  commenced  again  in  the  interest  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  bought  a  blacksmith's 
shop  and  had  it  fitted  up  for  a  house  of  worship.  Bishop 
Asbury  accepted  it  as  such  and  preached  in  it,  and  thus 
encouraged  the  work.  Though  not  a  member  of  Con- 
ference, Allen  had  for  many  years  traveled  as  an  itiner- 
ant preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  As- 
bury had  taken  a  special  interest  in  him,  and  as  he  had 
remained  after  Absalom  Jones,  with  nearly  all  the  col- 
ored members,  had  gone  to  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  he  enjoyed  special  favors  and  was  permitted  to 
preach  to  the  flock  he  had  begun  again  to  gather,  and  in 
1799  he  was  ordained  a  deacon. 

It  was  not  until  the  cruelty  and  unfairness  of  the 
preachers  stationed  in  Philadelphia  became  utterly  un- 
endurable that  Allen  was  driven,  contrary  to  his  incli- 
nation, to  establish  an  independent  Church. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  Bishop  Payne  gives  a  very 
interesting  history  of  the  life  and  work  of  Bishop  Allen, 
written  by  himself,  and  covering  the  period  of  ten  years 
from  1784  to  1794,  but  there  it  suddenly  breaks  off.  The 
question  naturally  arises  in  the  mind,  Did  his  personal 
account  of  himself  end  in   1794  (thirty-six  years  before 


140  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

his  death),  or  has  it  been  found  necessary  to  suppress  it? 
After  1 794  we  have  only  a  very  fragmentary  account  of 
him  till  near  the  year  1816,  at  which  time  he  came  out 
from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  After  that  till 
his  death  we  have  a  very  satisfactory  account. 

It  does  not  need  a  microscope  to  discover  that  during 
the  twenty-two  years  about  which  there  is  silence  he  was 
trying  as  hard  as  he  could  to  work  for  the  upbuilding  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Philadelphia,  and 
that  if  God  had  not  purposely  made  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  preachers  mad,  or  hardened  their  hearts  as 
he  did  Pharaoh's,  in  the  interest  of  his  oppressed 
people,  Allen  would  have  remained  in  that  Church. 
But  Varick  had  formed  a  separate  organization  in  New 
York,  and  Spencer  had  formed  a  separate  organization 
in  Wilmington,  and  it  became  a  necessity  for  Allen  to  do 
the  same.  To  get  the  lead  of  those  who  had  started  on  the 
independent  line  before  him,  he  had  himself  proclaimed 
a  bishop,  though  he  had  received  only  two  ordinations. 

It  fell  to  our  lot  to  be  particularly  well  situated  to  learn 
the  early  history  of  the  Bethel  Church  in  Philadelphia. 
Our  mother  in  her  youth  was  a  member  of  that  church. 
We  have  frequently  heard  her  tell  the  history  of  that 
church,  and  that  of  Peter  Spencer's  church,  in  Wilming- 
ton, Del.,  the  second  church  to  which  she  belonged. 
Nothing  is  more  firmly  fixed  in  our  mind.  Our  mother 
was  a  woman  of  extraordinary  intelligence,  and  deeply 
interested  in  the  Church  and  whatever  pertained  to 
the  interest  of  the  African  race  in  America.  Though 
circumstances  compelled  her  to  leave  Bethel  Church,  yet 
she  always  retained  a  high  regard  for  that  church,  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       141 

she  attended  it  till  the  time  of  her  death  when  in  Phila- 
delphia. Four  of  her  daughters  have  been  members  of 
that  church ;  one  died  a  member,  and  two  still  remain 
members,  and  she  could  have  had  no  interest  in  mis- 
representing- it.  Its  history,  as  coming  from  her,  is  that 
the  building  of  Bethel  Church  was  commenced  about 
1809.  The  church  was  built  under  the  title  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but  the  purpose  of  the 
colored  people  was  to  have  an  organization  of  their  own, 
which,  after  a  struggle  during  several  years,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  effecting  in  18 16.  She  had,  however,  left 
Philadelphia  before  they  separated  from  the  white 
Church.  She  married  our  father  in  18 13,  and  moved  to 
Wilmington,  Del.,  his  home.  Leaving  Philadelphia,  she 
took  a  certificate  from  Bethel  Church,  which  was  then 
under  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  She  arrived  at 
Wilmington  about  the  time  Peter  Spencer  withdrew  from 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  under  the  following 
circumstances:  Spencer  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Wilmington,  called  Zion 
(Zion  seems  to  have  been  a  favorite  title  with  the  colored 
Methodists).  In  1806  they  built  a  new  house  of  worship, 
called  the  "  stone  house,"  corner  of  Ninth  and  French 
Streets.  The  colored  people  built  it  themselves,  and 
supposed  that  when  they  had  built  it  they  could  control 
it.  But,  like  the  people  in  Philadelphia,  they  made  the 
mistake  of  taking  the  deed  for  the  ground  in  the  name  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  When  the  church  was 
completed  the  bishop  appointed  a  preacher  in  charge 
without  consulting  their  wishes.  This  brought  on  a  law- 
suit which  lasted  for  seven  years.     Delaware  was  a  slave 


142  /       ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

State,  and  there  was  not  much  chance  for  colored  people 
against  a  body  of  white  people  as  strong  and  influential 
as  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Spencer  found  that 
the  courts  were  against  him,  and  he  made  up  his  mind 
to  give  up  the  stone  house,  which  he  had  held  up  to  that 
time  by  appeals  from  court  to  court,  the  court  of  last 
resort  having  decided  against  him.  He  called  a  meeting, 
announced  the  situation,  and  said,  "  You  that  are  with 
me,  follow  me."  He  had  purchased  a  lot  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  street,  and  thereupon  built  a  house  which  his 
enemies  called  a  "  pigeon  box." 

When  our  mother  reached  Wilmington  with  her  certifi- 
cate from  Bethel,  Philadelphia,  those  who  had  remained 
with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  the  ' '  stone  house" 
endeavored  to  persuade  her  to  deposit  her  certificate  there, 
as  that  was  the  same  as  the  church  from  which  she  had 
come.  She  declined,  saying,  "No,  I  will  go  to  the 
'  pigeon  box'  with  my  husband."  Thus  we  see  that  Bethel 
Church  still  remained  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
at  the  time  she  left  it,  and  there  never  would  have  been 
any  pretense  that  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  (Bethel) 
Church  had  any  organization  earlier  than  1816,  only  for 
the  purpose  of  claiming  to  be  older  than  Zion. 

Bishop  Turner,  in  his  Church  Polity,  speaks  of  Peter 
Spencer  as  having  been  connected  with  Bishop  Allen. 
Nothing  could  be  more  erroneous ;  Spencer's  movement 
as  an  independent  Church  began  before  Allen's,  and  he 
left  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  three  years  before 
Allen.  He  claimed  to  be  the  ' '  first  of  all  colored  leaders  " 
to  declare  a  complete  and  absolute  ecclesiastical  inde- 
pendence of  the  white  Church.     Hence  it  is  seen  that 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       143 

Bethel  was  not  the  first  but  the  third  organization  of 
colored  Methodists. 

There  is  another  point  upon  which  Bethel  has  made 
Zion  Church  the  special  object  of  attack ;  that  is,  the 
bishopric.  Small  preachers  have  gone  through  the  coun- 
try saying,  "Zion  has  no  bishops."  One  preacher  in 
North  Carolina  used  to  say,  "  Hood's  no  bishop,  he  is  an 
elder."  In  this  he  showed  his  ignorance,  for  a  Church 
that  can  .make  an  elder  can  make  a  bishop  if  it  so  desires. 
But  such  ignorant  statements  have  their  effect  upon  igno- 
rant people,  and  we  know  from  experience  that  for  sev- 
eral years  in  many  places  in  the  South  thousands  of 
people  have  been  kept  out  of  our  Church  by  the  efforts  of 
men  who  made  it  their  business  to  convey  the  impression 
that  something  was  wrong  with  Zion's  episcopacy.  Nor 
has  it  been  small  men  alone  who  have  made  this  fight ; 
even  bishops  have  descended  to  this  low  style  of  attack. 
We  remember  visiting  a  Conference  held  in  Raleigh, 
N.  C,  by  a  Bethel  bishop  several  years  ago,  and  he  in- 
troduced us  as  "  Hood  of  Zion."  He  had  been  telling 
his  men  that  Zion  had  no  bishops,  and  he  could  not  con- 
sistently introduce  us  as  bishop.  We  have  seldom  visited 
any  of  their  Conferences  since  that  time. 

The  question  may  arise  as  to  why  this  Church  is  so 
anxious  to  discount  our  episcopacy.  We  think  it  is  be- 
cause they  have  set  up  a  claim  for  themselves  which  the 
facts  do  not  warrant,  and  they  hope  to  divert  attention 
from  their  own  by  raising  a  dust  about  ours.  Some 
of  their  ministers  have  gone  so  far  as  to  claim  apostolic 
succession  ;  and  this  is  based  upon  the  claim  that  Bishop 
White,    of  the   Protestant    Episcopal    Church,    ordained 


144  0NE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Richard  Allen.  Now,  the  absurdity  of  this  claim  will 
appear  at  once  to  any  man  who  thinks.  Was  a  bishop 
of  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  ever  known  to  ordain 
a  bishop  for  any  other  denomination?  Absurdity  is 
stamped  upon  the  face  of  this  story.  Another  claim  set 
up  is  that  Absalom  Jones,  a  priest  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  ordained  Richard  Allen.  We  have  it 
on  good  authority — that  of  his  daughter — that  this  state- 
ment, coming  to  the  ears  of  Absalom  Jones,  was  denied 
by  him.  He  said  he  was  present  as  a  spectator  but  took 
no  part  in  the  ceremony.  Does  it  look  reasonable  that  a 
priest  in  a  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  could  ordain  a 
Methodist  bishop  and  not  be  called  to  account  for  it? 
Moreover,  it  is  not  generally  conceded  that  a  single  priest 
can  ordain  a  bishop.  But  if  Absalom  Jones  ordained 
Allen,  as  one  portion  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
brethren  claim,  what  has  become  of  that  claim  of  another 
portion,  just  as  strongly  put  forth,  that  Bishop  White 
ordained  him?  It  is  questionable  whether  Absalom 
Jones  was  an  elder  in  1816.  We  know  that  the  Epis- 
copal Church  (even  with  white  ministers  who  have  had 
better  advantages  than  we  can  suppose  Absalom  Jones 
had  at  the  period  in  which  he  lived)  moves  slowly. 

But  the  third  claim  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal historian  is  that  Richard  Allen  was  ordained  by  five 
elders.  Now,  if  this  is  true  the  two  former  claims  were 
not  true.  If  either  of  them  was  true  when  they  were 
positively  stated  by  Bishop  Ouinn  and  others,  this  is  not 
true. 

We  have  heard  well-informed  Bethel  men,  even  bishops, 
at  different  periods  set  up  the  three  conflicting  claims, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       145 

and  each  told  his  story  as  positively  as  if  he  knew  it  to 
be  true.  In  these  three  conflicting  statements  respect- 
ing Allen's  ordination  who  is  to  decide  which  is  true 
or  whether  or  not  any  of  them  is  true?  Let  us  look 
at  this  last  statement  in  the  light  of  some  stubborn 
facts.  It  is  agreed  that  Allen  was  the  first  man  in  that 
Church  who  was  made  a  minister.  Those  ordained  by 
him  are  supposed  to  have  been  ordained  after  he  was 
made  a  bishop.  Where  did  the  five  elders  come  from? 
There  was  no  other  colored  Methodist  elder  in  existence 
except  Peter  Spencer.  If  five  regularly  ordained  white 
presbyters  officiated  why  were  their  names  not  given? 
Does  not  any  thoughtful  man  know  that  if  this  were  true 
the  names  of  the  elders  would  have  to  be  laid  in  rock, 
graven  with  an  iron  pen?  They  would  not  for  many 
years  have  circulated  the  story  that  Bishop  White  or- 
dained Allen  if  they  could  have  given  the  names  of  five 
white  elders  who  performed  the  ceremony. 

But  we  have  it  from  two  eyewitnesses  that  there  was 
not  an  elder  present.  Rev.  David  Stevens,  whose 
honesty  and  straightforwardness  were  proverbial,  told  us 
that  he  was  present  and  saw  the  ceremony  performed, 
and  that  there  was  not  an  elder  present.  Mr.  Vanbrackle, 
a  member  of  Bethel  Church,  told  us  the  same  thing. 
Both  of  these  eyewitnesses  state  that  Absalom  Jones 
was  present,  but  that  he  was  at  that  time  only  a  deacon. 
Hence  we  state  on  the  authority  of  two  witnesses  that 
there  was  not  an  elder  present  at  that  ceremony. 

Now,  in  all  this  confusion  and  uncertainty  about  the 
origin  of  their  own  episcopacy,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  they 
seek  to  discredit  ours.     We  were  the  only  body  of  Chris- 


146  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

tians  likely  to  raise  a  question  as  to  the  validity  of  their 
episcopacy;  therefore,  if  they  could  have  gotten  us  to 
accept  it  it  would  have  been  safe.  If  in  the  platform 
adopted  by  the  convention  of  1 864  we  had  agreed  that 
they  should  ordain  our  bishops,  their  purpose  would  have 
been  accomplished.  Their  discovering,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment, before  the  adjournment  of  the  convention,  that 
we  intended  to  ordain  our  own  bishops,  before  the  con- 
solidation, was  the  secret  cause  of  their  refusing  to  sub- 
mit the  platform  to  their  people  for  ratification.  We  then 
had  superintendents  elected  for  four  years  and  put  in 
office  without  any  written  ceremony.  It  is  a  fact  that 
three  of  the  first  four  superintendents  served  as  long  as 
they  lived,  the  other  one  until  long  after  he  lost  his  eye- 
sight ;  but  the  form  of  an  election  was  gone  through  with 
once  in  four  years.  It  was  seen  that  it  was  only  a  matter 
of  time  when  we  would  elect  for  life  and  install  by  a  cer- 
emonial consecration. 

The  Bethel  people  thought  that  if  a  union  could  be 
effected  in  1864  under  the  agreement  that  all  the  bishops 
should  be  made  for  life,  and  they  could  have  the  priv- 
ilege of  ordaining  our  bishops  when  the  consolidation 
took  place,  they  would  at  last  have  accomplished  what 
Allen  went  to  New  York  for  soon  after  he  was  made 
bishop.  We  suppose  many  have  wondered  why  they 
failed  to  submit  to  their  people  the  platform  which  they 
had  helped  to  build  in  1 864.  There  is  no  mystery  about 
it  with  those  who  studied  them  during'  the  sitting  of  that 
convention.  They  failed  to  accomplish  that  for  which 
they  hoped  when  they  went  into  convention.  The  Zion 
men  sized  them  up  quickly,  and  maneuvered  to  keep  them 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       147 

from  learning  till  the  last  moment  that  they  could  not 
accomplish  their  object.  There  were  several  points  of 
difference  in  the  two  connections.  Most  of  them  were 
considered  of  minor  importance.  Two  or  three  points 
of  difference  had  respect  to  the  rights  of  the  laity.  On 
these  points  Zion  was  unwilling  to  yield  much,  as  the)' 
knew  that  anything  which  would  have  the  tendency  to 
arouse  opposition  among  the  laity  would  damage  the 
prospect  of  union.  There  were  some  other  points  of 
difference  which  we  were  more  willing  to  yield.  We  got 
over  the  question  of  title  quite  easily.  The  two  con- 
nections were  distinguished  by  Zion  and  Bethel,  and  it 
was  agreed  to  drop  these  terms  and  call  the  consolidated 
connection  the  "  United  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church."  There  was  no  difficulty  about  adopting  this 
title  then.  Bethel  had  not  up  to  that  time  specially 
harped  on  the  term  African.  Up  to  that  time  Zion  was 
as  much  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  as 
Bethel  was.  But  the  effort  since  that  time  to  make  the 
Bethel  Church  preeminently  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  has  changed  the  relation  of  the  two 
churches  to  that  title. 

The  main  question  about  which  there  was  any  difficulty 
at  that  time  was  the  episcopacy.  Zion  had  an  elective 
superintendency,  and  Bethel  had  the  lifetime  bishopric. 

t 

One  thing  which  made  this  an  opportune  time  for  the 
union  was  the  fact  that  a  majority  of  the  ministers  in 
Zion  Connection  were  ready  for  the  change  to  the  life- 
time bishopric,  and  were  only  held  back  by  a  small 
minority.  This  majority  was  the  more  ready  for  a  union 
because  they  saw  that  it  would  be  the  easier  way  to  reach 


I48  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

their  object.  Nevertheless  we  made  a  show  of  fight,  as 
though  we  were  unitedly  attached  to  the  elective  super- 
intendency.    ■ 

The  question  of  episcopacy  was  about  midway  in  the 
articles  of  agreement  as  first  drawn  up  for  discussion. 
The  articles  which  preceded  it  were  adopted  after  a  lively 
but  very  pleasant  discussion.  But  when  we  came  to  the 
question  of  episcopacy  it  was  found  that  we  were  going 
to  have  an  interesting  struggle.  It  was  then  that  S.  T. 
Jones  made  the  speech  which  made  him  a  bishop  four 
years  later.  He  would  possibly  have  been  elected  at  that 
time,  but  the  men  to  be  elected  had  been  agreed  upon,  as 
is  too  often  the  case,  before  the  General  Conference  met. 
When  we  reached  this  subject  the  whole  question  of 
episcopacy  came  up.  Bishop  Payne  made  a  long  and 
learned  speech  defining  the  position  and  claims  of  his 
Church.  Bishop  Jones  in  reply  stated  our  position.  He 
stated,  in  substance,  that  there  was  authority  lodged 
within  the  Church  to  make  such  officers  as  it  needed  for 
the  efficiency  of  the  work ;  that  our  Church,  having  regu- 
larly ordained  elders,  had  the  power  to  make  bishops, 
if  it  chose  to  do  so;  that  we  had  an  elective  superin- 
tendency,  elected  for  four  years  as  matter  of  choice ;  that 
our  superintendents  were  bishops  in  fact  to  all  intents  and 
purposes ;  that  for  the  sake  of  union  our  people  might 
possibly  consent  to  adopt  a  ceremonial  consecration  and 
to  elect  our  bishops  for  life,  or  during  good  behavior. 

This  speech  drew  from  Bishop  Payne  the  acknowledg- 
ment that  if  our  General  Conference  should  elect  our 
bishops  for  life,  and  elect  three  elders  to  ordain  them, 
they  would  be  as  legal  bishops  as  he  was.   '  Bishop  Payne 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       149 

was  an  acknowledged  authority  in  that  Church,  and 
some  of  his  men  seemed  to  regret  that  he  had  been  com- 
pelled to  make  that  admission.  But  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
provides  that  in  case  there  be  no  bishops  three  elders 
shall  be  elected  to  ordain  a  bishop  there  was  no  other 
conclusion  to  come  to.  At  this  point  some  of  the  Bethel 
men  began  to  show  a  disposition  to  give  up  the  union. 
They  began  to  see  the  tendency  of  things,  that  after  all 
we  were  not  dependent  upon  them  or  anybody  else  for 
the  lifetime  bishopric  when  we  got  ready  to  adopt  it. 
And  we  began  to  understand  them  as  we  never  had 
before.  Up  to  that  time  they  had  hoped  to  make  bishops 
for  us  in  case  of  union,  and  they  felt  that  to  fail  in  that 
was  to  lose  all  the  glory  of  the  union ;  without  that 
there  was  nothing  in  it  for  them. 

It  seemed  for  a  time  that  we  could  get  no  further. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen  (afterward  bishop)  suggested  that 
we  go  to  the  other  end  and  work  up  to  the  bishop  from 
that  end.  He  said  he  had  noticed  that  sometimes  when 
the  cars  were  on  an  upgrade  and  could  not  go  for- 
ward they  backed.  He  thought  as  we  had  run  up  to  this 
article  on  one  side  we  might  go  to  the  other  side  and 
back  up  to  it.  If  we  found  that  we  could  agree  on  every 
other  article  there  would  be  the  greater  reason  to  try  to 
come  to  an  agreement  on  this.  We  had  agreed  among 
ourselves  to  accept  the  lifetime  bishopric,  when  we 
came  to  that  point,  but  did  not  intend  to  let  it  be  known 
until  the  time  came  to  meet  that  question.  Loguen's 
suggestion  was  agreed  to,  and  we  went  to  the  other  end 
of  the  articles  of  agreement  and  worked  back  to  the 


150  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

question  of  episcopacy  from  that  end.  We  agreed  upon 
every  article  almost  unanimously.  We  arranged  every 
detail  for  submitting  the  platform  to  the  people,  the 
Annual  and  General  Conferences.  Everything  else  was 
completely  provided  for,  so  that  if  we  could  come  to  an 
agreement  on  the  bishopric  there  would  be  nothing  to  do 
but  to  adjourn  and  go  to  the  people  with  the  matter,  with 
the  hope  of  a  union  in  about  fifteen  months'  time.  And 
if  the  Bethel  delegates  and  bishops  had  gone  to  their 
people  in  the  same  spirit  that  the  Zion  men  did  that 
would  undoubtedly  have  been  the  result. 

When  everything  else  had  been  settled  we  approached 
the  vexed  question.  It  was  not  nearly  so  much  of  a  ques- 
tion with  us  as  it  may  have  seemed  to  them,  as  we,  at 
the  commencement,  had  calculated  on  yielding  to  them 
on  that  question  by  adopting  the  lifetime  bishopric.  We 
therefore  came  to  that  subject  with  the  following  prop- 
ositions :  1 .  That  we  adopt  for  the  united  connection 
the  superintendency  as  it  exists  in  Zion  Church,  or  the 
lifetime  bishopric  as  it  exists  in  Bethel  Church,  as  a 
majority  of  the  convention  shall  decide.  2.  Provided 
that  in  case  we  agree  to  adopt  the  lifetime  bishopric 
the  General  Conference  of  the  Zion  Church  shall  be 
called  in  extraordinary  session  and  our  bishops  elected 
for  life  and  ordained  before  the  union  is  consummated, 
so  that  when  we  meet  for  the  consolidation  we  shall 
each  have  bishops  of  equal  standing. 

It  seems  to  us  that  a  more  reasonable  compromise 
could  not  have  been  asked  nor  less  accepted  than  this. 
But  the  sequel  will  show  that  the  Bethel  men  had  other 
notions.     The  first  question  voted  on  was  that  we  adopt 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        1  5  I 

the  superintendency  as  it  exists  in  the  Zion  Church.  As 
it  had  been  agreed  that  just  enough  of  our  men  were  to 
vote  with  them  to  defeat  this  proposition  it  was  defeated 
by  a  close  vote. 

The  next  proposition  was  that  we  adopt  the  lifetime 
bishopric.  This  was  adopted  by  a  close  vote.  The  last 
proposition  to  be  considered  was  the  proviso  that  before 
the  final  consummation  of  the  union  the  General  Confer- 
ence of  the  Zion  Church  should  be  called  in  extraordinary 
session  and  the  bishops  elected  for  life  and  ordained. 
On  this  question  the  convention  was  a  tie ;  but  according 
to  the  rules  of  the  convention  in  case  of  a  tie  the  chair- 
man had  the  casting  vote.  Bishop  Clinton  was  in  the 
chair  and  voted  for  the  proposition,  and  it  was  then 
adopted.  When  the  announcement  was  made  Rev.  R. 
H.  Cain  and  A.  L.  Stanford  cried  out  almost  simultane- 
ously, "To  your  tents,  O  Israel!"  A  delegate  on  the 
Zion  side  asked,  "  Why  to  your  tents  so  hastily?"  This 
set  them  to  thinking,  and  the  cooler  heads  soon  devised 
a  means  to  get  out  of  the  difficulty.  The  chief  secretary 
and  the  assistant,  who  had  kept  the  minutes,  were  Zion 
men.  If  they  had  left  the  convention  unceremoniously 
they  would  have  placed  themselves  at  great  disadvantage. 
They  had  allowed  us  to  do  nearly  all  the  work,  and  the 
papers  were  all  in  our  hands,  and  Bishop  Clinton  was 
chairman  of  that  session.  If  they  had  left  the  conven- 
tion we  had  only  to  publish  the  facts  to  show  that  they 
were  entirely  to  blame  for  the  failure  to  unite.  They 
therefore  asked  that  we  have  another  session.  We  asked 
for  what  another  session  was  desired,  when  everything 
had    been    completed.      There    was    absolutely   nothing 

12 


152  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

more  that  we  could  do  to  further  the  union.  We  be- 
lieved that  they  had  some  scheme  to  get  the  advantage, 
but  we  could  not  think  what.  We  thought,  however, 
that  we  had  nothing  to  fear,  and  we  consented.  Not- 
withstanding it  was  our  day  to  have  the  chairman,  they 
took  advantage  of  the  fact  that  this  was  an  extra  session, 
and  had  Bishop  Campbell  in  the  chair  before  the  hour  to 
which  we  had  adjourned. 

When  we  assembled  one  of  their  delegates  (Chaplain 
Hunter  or  A.  L.  Stanford,  we  are  not  certain  which) 
had  a  long  preamble  and  resolutions ;  the  preamble 
stated  the  facts  of  our  having  assembled  and  what  we 
had  accomplished.  The  substance  of  the  resolutions  was 
that  we  put  off  the  final  consummation  of  the  union  for 
four  years,  each  party  doing  all  it  could  for  its  own  side 
during  that  time.  For  this  all  their  delegates  voted. 
All  of  our  delegates  voted  against  it,  but  Bishop  Camp- 
bell gave  the  casting  vote  in  its  favor,  according  to  their 
arrangement.  We  then  understood  that  at  least  a  part 
of  their  purpose  in  having  another  session  was  to  get 
Bishop  Campbell  in  the  chair  to  give  the  casting  vote. 
A  recess  long  enough  to  prepare  the  resolutions  would 
have  been  all  that  was  necessary  otherwise.  There 
would  have  been  no  harm  in  those  resolutions  if  they 
had  honestly  intended  to  take  the  four  years  in  preparing 
their  people  for  the  change  as  they  stated.  But  that  was 
not  their  purpose.  They  meant  the  same  as  when  they 
cried,  "To  your  tents,  O  Israel!"  except  that  they  did 
not  act  so  honestly.  They  meant  to  defeat  the  union, 
because  they  believed  that  we  intended  to  make  our 
own  bishops.     This  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  they  did 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 53 

not  submit  the  matter  to  their  people  at  all.  We  had 
thousands  of  copies  of  the  platform  published  at  our  own 
expense,  and  supplied  their  ministers,  one  of  whom  ad- 
mitted that  he  had  a  satchel  full  of  them,  and  did  not 
even  show  them  to  the  ministers  stationed  nearest  to  him, 
It  is  doubtful  if  any  considerable  number  of  the  Bethel 
people  ever  saw  that  platform  or  had  any  idea  why  the 
measure  failed. 

We  have  not  believed  since  that  time  that  there  has 
been  any  honest  purpose  on  the  part  of  a  majority  of  the 
leaders  in  that  Church  to  unite  with  Zion  Church  on  any 
fair  terms.  Bishop  Payne  has  honestly  desired  and 
worked  for  a  union,  and  he  alone  of  the  older  bishops. 
We  think  possibly  of  those  later  elected,  Bishops  Gains, 
Handy,  and  Grant  may  be  counted  as  honestly  in  favor 
of  union.  If  we  were  asked  to-day  our  opinion  respect- 
ing the  union  of  these  two  bodies  we  should  say  we  think 
there  is  but  little  hope.  We  have  elected  and  ordained 
our  bishops  for  life,  and  they  have  now  given  up  all  hope 
of  gaining  anything  on  that  line. 

Since  the  foregoing  was  written  the  union  movement 
has  been  started  again,  and  a  very  vague  and  unsatisfac- 
tory platform,  adopted  by  the  two  General  Conferences, 
is  being  submitted  to  the  people.  The  result  of  this 
third  effort  will  be  a  subject  for  the  future  historian. 
We  expect  nothing  but  talk. 


154  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL  ZION  CHURCH. 

Every  denomination  has  its  peculiar  characteristics. 
We  know  the  ministers  of  some  denominations  almost  at 
a  glance.  Each  denomination  seems  to  fix  its  mark, 
more  or  less  distinctly,  upon  its  members.  The  founders 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  were 
quiet,  unassuming,  humble,  and  unpretending  men. 
They  had  deep  convictions  as  to  the  civil  and  religious 
rights  of  men.  They  meant  as  far  as  possible  to  main- 
tain their  own  rights,  but  they  went  about  it  in  an  unos- 
tentatious manner.  They  were  distinguished  for  firm- 
ness of  purpose,  but  the  carrying  out  of  their  purpose 
was  accomplished  with  as  little  noise  as  possible.  This 
may  be  seen  in  the  ministry  and  membership  to-day. 
This  characteristic  has  been  taken  by  some  for  want  of 
snap,  and  by  some  we  have  been  underestimated.  This 
fact  was  especially  noted  in  the  convention  of  the  two 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  in  Philadelphia  in 
1 864.  The  Bethel  brethren  presumed  that  their  men  were 
generally  so  much  stronger  than  the  Zion  men  that  they  had 
no  occasion  for  a  careful  selection  of  delegates  to  meet  the 
Zion  men  ;  any  of  their  men  were  thought  to  be  sufficient. 
But  we  had  not  been  in  session  long  when  it  was  discov- 
ered that  the  men  they  had  selected  were  no  matches 
for  the  ,Zion  men.     The  numbers  were  equal,  and  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 55 

fact  that  a  platform  was  adopted  with  which  we  were 
entirely  satisfied,  but  which  they  were  unwilling  to  sub- 
mit to  their  people,  shows  that  the  Zion  delegates  were 
abundantly  able  to  take  care  of  their  own  interests.  Ex- 
actly the  same  thing  happened  in  the  second  effort  to 
unite  the  two  connections.  The  joint  commission  which 
met  in  Washington  City  in  1885  adopted  a  platform, 
which  our  bishops  were  willing  to  submit  to  our  people ; 
but  the  Bethel  bishops,  with  one  exception,  voted  against 
it.  The  third  attempt  to  unite  the  two  connections 
seems  likely  to  result  as  its  predecessors,  and  for  the 
same  reason. 

It  thus  seems  evident  that  by  some  means  our  dele- 
gates in  convention  were  regarded  as  having  taken  too 
good  care  of  our  interests.  The  idea  in  Zion  is  that  there 
is  not  much  in  noise.  Some  of  us  in  this  day  think  that 
we  have  been  too  quiet,  and  the  present  tendency  is 
toward  a  little  more  show.  Some  of  our  young  men  are 
inclined  to  imitate  the  ostentation  of  somebody  else ;  but 
it  will  be  a  long  while  before  the  connection  loses  its 
quiet  characteristics. 

Another  characteristic  is  the  disinclination  to  proselyte. 
We  have  frequently  heard  our  ministers  in  times  of  re- 
vival say  to  the  people,  "  Get  religion,  and  then  join  what- 
ever church  you  choose."  We  have  said  it  ourself.  And 
when  the  converts  are  wavering  and  undecided  we  say, 
"Let  them  alone,  let  them  be  persuaded  in  their  own 
minds."  Some  of  our  members  say,  "  They  shall  not  say 
I  persuaded  them;"  and  thousands  of  those  converted  by 
our  ministry  are  thus  encouraged  to  go  to  other  denomi- 
nations, or  at  least  permitted  to  go  without  any  effort  on 


156  ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF    THE 

our  part  to  induce  them  to  come  to  us.  This  foolish  thing 
is  carried  so  far  that  even  parents  often  refuse  to  make  any 
effort  to  keep  their  own  children  within  their  own  Church. 
The  Church  is  making  some  improvement  on  this  line, 
but  the  improvement  is  not  near  rapid  enough.  It  is 
well  enough  for  evangelists  to  tell  people  to  join  what 
Church  they  choose,  but  the  ministers  of  a  regularly  or- 
ganized Church  should  do  what  they  can,  in  reason,  to 
gather  their  converts  into  their  own  Church.  If  they  do 
not  feel  to  do  this  they  are  better  fitted  for  evangelists 
than  for  pastors. 

The  Church  has  taken  a  high  stand  on  moral  questions. 
Some  writer  has  said  that  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Zion  Church  has  peculiar  notions  on  the  subjects  of 
marriage  and  divorce.  That  writer  must  have  been  at 
a  loss  to  know  what  to  write.  There  is  not  a  particle  of 
truth  in  the  statement.  The  views  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church  on  this  subject  are  in  accord 
with  those  of  the  other  branches  of  the  Methodist  Church. 
The  law  is  as  follows : 

"  No  man  who  has  two  or  more  living  wives,  nor  woman  who  has  two 
or  more  living  husbands,  shall  be  admitted  as  a  member  of  our  Church, 
except  they  were  unavoidably  separated  by  slavery,  so  as  not  to  have  the 
least  prospect  of  being  together  again  in  this  life  ;  or  except  the  separation 
was  on  scriptural  grounds,  fornication  (Matt,  xix,  9)  ;  in  both  of  which 
cases  the  clearest  proof  must  be  given  to  the  pastor  in  charge,  called  upon 
to  take  cognizance  of  the  case.  And  if  any  pastor  in  charge  receiving  in- 
formation to  that  effect  respecting  any  person  or  persons  applying  for 
membership  in  our  societies  shall  fail  to  investigate  the  case  and  shall 
thereby  admit  such  person  or  persons  in  the  Church  wrongfully,  such 
pastor  shall  be  deemed  guilty  of  immorality. 

"  Divorce.  Our  ministers  shall  discourage  the  procuring  of  divorces 
except  where  they  are  to  be  procured  on  scriptural  grounds.  All  divorces 
not  thus  obtained  shall  subject  the  person  so  offending  to  trial  according 
to  Discipline." 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        1 57 

The  first  exception  in  the  foregoing  recognized  that 
some  slaves  were  parted  against  their  will.  This  was  a 
separation  unavoidable  on  their  part,  and  it  frequently- 
happened  that  they  never  met  again.  In  such  cases 
they  were  allowed  to  marry  again.  Of  course  when 
there  ceased  to  be  any  such  condition  of  affairs  there  was 
no  further  application  of  that  exception  to  the  law.  It 
remains  in  the  Discipline  as  a  relic  of  the  accursed  in- 
stitution, atid  reminds  the  children  of  what  their  parents 
endured. 

There  is  no  Church  more  pronounced  in  its  opposition 
to  loose  marriage  laws.  No  looseness  of  life  is  tolerated 
in  our  Church.  The  law  is  sufficient  and  its  administra- 
tion rigid.  It  is  not  always  that  the  accused  gets  the 
benefit  of  a  reasonable  doubt.  In  our  experience  we 
have  found  it  harder  to  protect  those  as  to  whose  guilt 
we  were  doubtful  than  to  convict  those  whom  we  be- 
lieved to  be  guilty.  No  doubt  but  there  are  guilty  per- 
sons among  us  who  escape  punishment,  as  there  are  in 
all  Churches ;  yet  it  is  not  on  account  of  a  lack  of  effort  to 
maintain  a  pure  Church.  Both  the  ministers  and  laity 
in  Zion  Church  know  that  they  are  expected  to  live  pure 
lives,  and  if  they  fail  to  so  live  the  fact  must  be  kept  well 
hidden.  And  there  is  no  one  so  high  but  he  can  be 
reached.  Well-supported  charges  against  a  bishop  would 
be  investigated  as  surely  and  as  quickly  as  against  a  less 
important  personage.  We  can  name  quite  a  number 
of  ministers  who  have  been  expelled  from  our  Church 
after  conviction  on  charges  of  gross  immorality  who  are 
now  occupying  the  pulpits  of  other  denominations. 

Our   Church    has    always    supported    the    temperance 


158  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

cause.  The  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  is  forbidden.  The 
law  at  one  time  read,  "  Except  for  mechanical  or  medici- 
nal purposes;  "  but  an  abuse  of  this  section  having  been 
discovered  it  was  stricken  out.  No  person  would  be 
called  to  account  for  taking  medicine  prescribed  by  a 
physician,  but  the  members  can  learn  this  without  hav- 
ing it  stated ;  hence  it  was  deemed  unnecessary  to  con- 
tinue this  exception  in  the  Discipline.  Men  who  come 
up  to  be  received  into  the  ministry  are  required  to  pledge 
themselves  to  abstain  from  all  intoxicating  drinks  as  a 
beverage,  and  also  from  the  use  of  tobacco.  This  last 
requirement  was  adopted  at  the  General  Conference  of 
1880. 

In  the  efforts  to  restrict  the  rum  traffic  our  ministers 
have  generally  stood  in  the  front  ranks.  We  know  one  of 
our  ministers  who  failed  to  take  his  stand  on  the  right 
side,  and  a  large  portion  of  his  members  left  the  church 
and  asked  the  bishop  to  allow  them  to  form  a  temperance 
church,  with  a  pastor  in  accord  with  their  views.  That 
minister  showed  contempt  for  the  rebuke  thus  adminis- 
tered, but  a  curse  seems  upon  him,  and  he  has  never 
prospered  since.  The  temperance  influence  is  so  strong 
in  the  Church  that  the  man  who  attempts  to  oppose  it 
may  expect  to  come  to  grief  as  this  man  did.  It  is  not  a 
thing  of  recent  birth,  but  a  sentiment  as  old  as  the  Church 
itself,  which  has  grown  with  the  growth  of  the  Church, 
so  that  we  claim  temperance  is  one  of  its  cardinal  prin- 
ciples. 

The  committee  to  give  expression  to  the  sentiment  of 
the  Church  on  the  subject  of  temperance  is  a  standing 
committee    in    our  Annual   Conferences.       In   the   New 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 59 

England  Conference  there  is  but  one  minister  who  uses 
tobacco  in  any  form.  In  the  days  of  slavery  the  Zion 
ministers  were  generally  the  leaders  of  the  antislavery 
movement,  and  their  pulpits  were  always  open  to  the 
antislavery  lecturer.  If  no  other  house  could  be  ob- 
tained for  an  antislavery  meeting  it  was  known  that  the 
Zion  Church  could  be  had.  The  doors  of  that  Church 
were  never  closed  against  one  who  wanted  to  plead  for 
the  oppressed.  In  fact,  the  leaders  have  always  stood 
foremost  in  every  movement  tending  to  the  advancement 
of  the  race. 

We  have  mentioned  the  fact  that  Zion  was  the  first 
among  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  to  grant  to  the 
laity  representation  in  the  Annual  and  General  Confer- 
ences. We  may  add  that  this  Church  was  the  first  in 
granting  to  woman  that  recognition  to  which  she  is  enti- 
tled. In  1884  the  word  "  male  "  was  stricken  from  the 
Discipline,  thus  removing  every  restriction.  Since  then, 
in  Zion  Church,  it  is  not  a  question  of  sex,  but  one  of 
fitness,  when  any  position  in  the  Church  is  considered. 
Women  are  class  leaders  and  superintendents  of  Sabbath 
schools ;  they  may  be  trustees  if  there  is  nothing  in  the 
civil  law  to  prevent.  They  are  exhorters  and  preachers ; 
and,  notwithstanding  this  freedom,  we  have  never  had 
any  considerable  number  of  female  preachers,  and  we 
have  heard  of  but  one  female  preacher  who  gave  us  any 
trouble,  and  that  trouble  was  the  result  of  a  blunder, 
and  she  was  a  white  woman,  and  we  fully  believe  it  was 
a  righteous  retribution.  When  you  sow  the  wind  you 
may  expect  to  reap  the  whirlwind. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  now  agitated  over 


l6o  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  question  of  admitting  women  as  delegates  to  the 
General  Conference.  That  question  did  not  require  an 
hour's  debate  with  us;  it  was  settled  when  the  word 
"male"  was  stricken  from  the  Discipline.  Possibly  it 
may  be  asked,  ' '  What  are  the  chances  of  women  getting 
seats  in  the  General  Conference?"  In  the  first  place,  if 
she  is  president,  secretary,  or  treasurer  of  any  board 
elected  by  the  General  Conference,  she  is  by  virtue  of 
said  office  a  member  of  the  General  Conference  and  en- 
titled to  all  its  privileges.  Secondly,  the  lay  delegates 
are  chosen  by  an  Electoral  Conference  made  up  of  lay 
delegates  attending  the  Annual  Conference.  The  lay 
delegates  to  the  District  Conference  are  elected  by  the 
members  of  the  circuits  and  stations.  Since  there  are 
generally  more  females  than  males  in  our  churches  it 
would  be  an  easy  matter  for  them  to  send  as  delegates 
to  the  District  Conferences  representatives  of  their  sex, 
and  that  body  in  turn  could  elect  females  to  the  Annual 
Conferences.  Therefore  at  least  in  some  cases  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  elect  a  female.  In  fact,  we  believe  in 
almost  any  case  where  there  was  a  female  present  as  a 
candidate,  whose  general  fitness,  combined  with  piety 
and  intelligence,  made  her  the  best  representative,  she 
would  be  selected,  and  largely  by  the  votes  of  the  males. 
Our  idea  is  that  we  should  not  be  hindered  from  using 
such  instrumentalities  as  God  is  pleased  to  raise  up,  on 
account  of  sex.  This  is  the  position  of  Zion  Church  on 
the  woman  question.  That  the  colored  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  have  voted  by  a  large  ma- 
jority against  the  admission  of  women  as  delegates  to 
the    General    Conference    has    been    severely    criticised. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       l6l 

This  is  regarded  as  a  display  of  ingratitude  in  considera- 
tion of  the  fact  that  the  women  of  America  were  among 
the  foremost  advocates  of  liberty  and  the  enfranchise- 
ment of  the  Negro.  /  But  we  would  remark  that  the 
black  minister  must  not  be  judged  by  those  who  remain 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  The  black  man  can 
never  be  seen  at  his  best  when  he  sits  in  the  shadow  of 
the  white  man.  As  the  spreading  oak  dwarfs  the  grass 
beneath  its  shade,  so  does  the  superior  number  of  white 
members  in  the  white  Church,  with  their  ideas  of  their 
superiority,  dwarf  the  black  man  who  remains  in  that 
communion.  To  see  the  black  man  at  his  best  he  must 
be  seen  in  his  own  institution,  and  managing  his  own 
affairs.  White  institutions  as  object  lessons  are  an  ad- 
vantage to  him,  and  when  the  occasion  arises  he  takes 
pattern  of  the  best  he  can  see. 

In  Zion  the  black  minister  has  shown  the  height  to 
which  he  can  rise  respecting  the  rights  of  women  when 
he  is  where  there  is  nothing  to  hinder  him  from  follow- 
ing his  best  convictions.  In  his  own  institution  he 
makes  his  own  sentiment,  thinks  for  himself,  and  takes 
his  own  responsibility,  keeping  pace  with  the  best 
thought  of  the  age  in  which  he  lives.  We  are  willing 
to  be  judged  by  the  standard  we  set  up  for  ourselves, 
but  not  that  action  which  grows  out  of  a  standard  made 
for  us,  or  the  result  of  secondhand  opinion. 


1 62  ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 


CHAPTER  VI. 

FIRST  BISHOP  OF  THE  CHURCH  AND  HIS  SUCCESSORS. 

RIGHT    REV.    JAMES    VARICK, 

First  Bishop  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Con- 
nection, the  Founder  of  the  First  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  America,  the  Originator  of  the  Idea  of 
a  Negro  Church,  the  First  and  Foremost  of  the  Negro 
Race  Leaders  Who  Have  Appeared  upon  the  Stage  in 
Modern-  Times* 

The  subject  of  tins  sketch  was  born  in  the  State  of  New 

York,  near  Newburg,   as  nearly  as  we  have  been  able 

to  learn,   about    1750.     We  have  not  been  able  to  find 

certain  information  on  this  point,  but  from  other  known 

facts  we  think  his  birth  could  not  have  been  either  much 

earlier  or  much  later  than  the  date  named;  at  least  this, 

we  think,  is  as  near  as  we  shall  ever  be  able  to  get  to  the 

exact  time  of  his  birth.      Bishop  Moore,  in  his  History y 

says: 

"  Bishop  James  Varick  was  one  of  the  nine  male  members  who  made  the 
first  movement  toward  the  establishment  of  the  Zion  Church  in  1796.  .  .  . 
He  was  a  man  of  great  firmness,  patience,  perseverance,  forethought, 
caution,  and  uprightness.  Plain  but  orthodox  in  his  preaching,  his  memory- 
is  one  of  the  revered  relics  of  Zion  Connection." 

In  the  Quadrennial  Address  of  the  bishops  to  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1892  we  find  the  following-: 

"  The  Afro-American  Church  is  the  one  great  developing  and  elevating 
agency,  in  comparison  with  which  all  others  sink  into  insignificance.  There 
is  one  name  connected  with  this  movement  of  which  comparatively  little 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 63 

is  now  said,  which  coming  generations  will  rescue  from  the  obscurity  in 
which  we  have  permitted  it  to  rest.  Our  children's  children  in  their  search 
for  information  respecting  this  movement  which  has  done  so  much  to  de- 
velop the  race  will  rind  the  name  of  James  Varick,  and  will  discover  that 
to  him  is  due  the  credit  of  starting  a  Church  organization  for  the  race.  We 
know  more  of  Father  Rush,  because  our  immediate  predecessors  were  all 
acquainted  with  him  and  have  told  us  more  about  him.  We  know  still 
more  about  Clinton  and  Jones,  and  their  praises  hang  upon  our  tongues. 
But  we  have  only  to  read  between  the  lines  of  the  meager  history  which 
has  come  down  to  us  to  realize  that  the  idea  of  a  great  Afro-American 
Church  was  conceived  in  the  mind  of  James  Varick,  and  that  he,  of  all  the 
men  of  his  day,  built  most  wisely.  His  skillful  hand  is  seen  in  the 
Act  of  Incorporation,  drawn  up  in  1801,  which  secured  the  independence 
of  the  Church,  and  yet,  while  it  protected  the  Church  property  from  the  en- 
croachments of  the  white  bishops,  he  managed  to  hold  their  friendship,  or 
at  least  avoid  their  open  hostility." 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  bishops  in  1 892  unitedly 
declared  that  James  Varick  was  the  real  leader  in  the 
formation  of  Zion,  the  first  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  America.  We  call  special  attention  to  this 
fact  here  because  there  are  so  many  who  thoughtlessly 
speak  of  Rush  as  the  founder  and  first  bishop.  As  Joshua 
followed  Moses,  so  did  Rush  follow  Varick.  Like  Moses, 
Varick  led  his  people  about  forty  years,  for  he  was  a 
class  leader  and  local  preacher  long  before  he  formed 
them  into  a  separate  organization.  He  held  meetings 
separate  from  the  whites  possibly  as  early  as  1780.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  his  separate  meetings  were  aimed  at 
by  that  twenty-fifth  item  in  the  rules  adopted  by  the 
Conference  in  1780,  as  follows: 

"  Question  25.  Ought  not  the  assistant  to  meet  the  colored  people  him- 
self, and  appoint  as  helpers  in  his  absence  proper  white  persons,  and  not 
suffer  them  to  stay  late  and  meet  by  themselves  ? 

"Answer.    Yes." 

He  led  the  separate  organization  through  its  formation 
period    and    continued   its  leader  for  more  than   thirty 


164  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

years.  Like  Astmry,*  he  presided  at  the  Conferences 
before  he  received  holy  orders  at  the  hands  of  men ;  he 
was  ordained  of  God  to  feed  the  flock  of  Christ,  and  did 
so  long  before  human  authority  recognized  him  as  a 
bishop.  That  he  was  well  equipped  for  a  leader  is  evi- 
dent from  the  several  special  characteristics  which  Bishop 
Moore  attributes  to  him.  And  these  are  all  seen  in  the 
splendid  picture  which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  book. 
"Firmness,  patience,  perseverance,  forethought,  caution, 
uprightness,  and  a  phenomenal  memory"  are  the  charac- 
teristics ascribed  to  him  by  Bishop  Moore.  The  man 
who  has  all  these  characteristics  is  a  remarkably  uncom- 
mon human  being,  and  yet  they  are  just  the  qualities 
needed  for  the  ordeal  through  which  the  foremost  reli- 
gious leader  of  the  oppressed  race  in  America  had  to  pass. 
His  forethought  is  conspicuous  in  that  he  wholly  avoided 
the  difficulty  that  later  movements  had  to  contend  with 
respecting  the  title  of  Church  property. 

Every  account  we  have  of  Richard  Allen's  secession  from 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Philadelphia  informs 
us  of  a  hard  and  long  struggle  and  litigation  over  the 
Church  property.  From  the  best  information  attainable 
the  struggle  was  about  seven  years  long.  Peter  Spen- 
cer, in  Wilmington,  Del.,  had  a  seven  years'  struggle, 
and  was  finally  obliged  to  give  up  his  first  church  to  the 
possession  of  the  white  bishop  and  build  another.  Long 
and  disappointing  experience  taught  him  to  do  in  the 
end  what  Varick's  forethought  enabled  him  to  do  at  the 
beginning,  twelve  years  earlier.  The  Church  property 
of  the  organization  led  by  Bishop  Varick  was  all  deeded 
*  See  statement  respecting  Asbury  on  page  59. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       165 

to  their  own  incorporation,  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  commonly  called  Zion.  There  was  therefore 
neither  litigation  nor  angry  contention ;  no,  not  even 
a  question  raised  as  to  the  absolute  right  of  the  congre- 
gations to  dismiss  the  white  preachers  at  pleasure. 

By  Varick's  forethought  he  had  the  assistance  of  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  ministers  as  long  as  it  was  well  for  him 
to  use  them,  and  when  he  could  no  longer  use  them 
without  creating  discord  in  his  own  ranks  he  dismissed 
them  without  losing  their  friendship.  His  patience  was 
seen  in  his  long  waiting  on  the  bishops  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  for  the  realization  of  his  hope,  which 
they  held  out  to  him,  that  the  petition  of  his  people  to 
grant  him  holy  orders  would  be  complied  with.  This 
was  deferred  from  time  to  time  for  twenty  years.  A 
patience  that  holds  out  for  twenty  years  may  well  be  re- 
garded as  a  natural  characteristic  of  its  agent.  Perhaps 
it  may  be  said  that  he  could  do  nothing  else  but  wait. 
Peter  Spencer  did  something  else ;  his  congregation 
elected  three  laymen  and  called  them  elders,  and  they 
ordained  Peter  Spencer  and  called  him  elder  minister. 
He  then  assumed  all  the  functions  of  a  bishop. 

Richard  Allen  did  not  wait,  but  got  his  ordination  in 
some  way  (concerning  which  a  statement  is  given  in 
another  place).  James  Varick  waited,  and  because  of  this 
other  organizations  much  later  formed  claimed  priority 
because  they  in  some  way  (however  questionable)  ob- 
tained ordination  earlier  than  he.  This  claim  is  set  up 
in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  organization  of  Zion  Church 
as  an  independent  body  was  as  complete  in  the  eye  of  the 
civil  law  in    1801   as  it  or  any  other  Church  is  to-day. 


1 66  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

This  was  fifteen  years  before  Richard  Allen  came  out 
from  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Varick's  long  and  patient  waiting  was  finally  rewarded 
by  his  receiving  ordination  from  the  hands  of  Methodist 
ministers,  whose  right  to  ordain  has  not  and  cannot  be 
questioned  by  any  who  admit  that  three  presbyters  can 
perform  the  ceremony  of  ordination.  So  much  for  his 
patience.  Firmness  was  another  of  his  peculiar  charac- 
teristics. This  is  so  closely  allied  to  patience  that  lie 
who  enjoys  the  one  is  seldom  destitute  of  the  other.  To 
his  firmness  Zion  Connection  is  indebted  for  its  existence 
as  an  independent  body  to-day.  As  we  have  seen,  he 
had  waited  for  nearly  twenty  years  for  ordination  at  the 
hands  of  the  white  bishops.  Near  the  end  of  this  period 
Richard  Allen  visited  New  York,  claiming  to  be  a  bishop. 
We  have  no  doubt  but  that  Varick  had  been  informed 
how  Allen  was  made  bishop;  nevertheless  Allen's  offer 
to  ordain  him  if  he  (Varick)  would  unite  with  his  (Allen's) 
organization  was  tempting  to  a  man  who  had  been  seek- 
ing ordination  for  twenty  years.  Who  of  us  to-day 
would  have  stood  firm  under  such  circumstances?  None 
but  those  whose  firmness  is  characteristic.  William  Mil- 
ler and  some  others  yielded  and  went  with  Allen ;  yes, 
and  afterward  became  dissatisfied  and  returned  to  Zion. 
Varick  stood  firm,  and  because  he  stood  the  connection 
stands  to-day  a  monument  to  his  fixed  and  steady  pur- 
pose of  mind.  His  purpose  was  to  have  ordination  at 
the  hands  of  men  of  whose  authority  there  could  be  no 
question.  He  stood  firm  to  the  end,  faithful  amid  the 
faithless. 

Another  peculiar  characteristic  ascribed  to  him  is  per- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       167 

severance.  What  we  have  already  said  renders  his  per- 
severance conspicuous.  He  had  a  purpose  from  which 
nothing  could  turn  him  aside ;  his  eye  of  faith  rested 
upon  a  prize,  and  he  persevered  until  the  jewel  of  holy 
orders  rested  upon  him  from  the  hands  of  ministers 
whose  authority  had  come  down  as  regular  as  history 
could  make  it.  His  caution  was  also  marked.  It  takes  a 
very  cautious  man  to  hold  men  through  a  long  course  of 
years  to  the  interest  of  his  purpose  when  they  at  the 
same  time  have  even  a  different  purpose,  to  say  nothing 
of  an  opposite  purpose.  He  started  out  to  establish  an 
independent  Church.  The  bishops  and  ministers  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  were  opposed  to  it,  and  de- 
termined, if  possible,  to  get  him  and  his  organization 
back  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  He  deter- 
mined to  maintain  his  own  organization.  He  quietly 
had  his  way,  and  yet  he  held  the  bishops  and  ministers  to 
his  interest,  so  that  one  or  more  of  them  assisted  him  in 
every  move  he  made.  Even  after  his  people  had  deter- 
mined to  hold  a  Conference  he  had  the  assistance  of 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Rev.  Joshua  Soule,  who  afterward 
became  bishop,  acted  as  secretary  of  the  first  Annual 
Conference. 

Varick  was  marked  for  his  uprightness.  Through  all 
the  trying  years  of  his  leadership  nothing  is  recorded 
of  him,  or  known  by  those  who  still  remember  him,  to 
his  discredit.  There  is  a  lady  still  living  in  New  York 
who  remembers  him  as  a  man  who  was  greatly  respected 
by  all  who  knew  him.     He  had  a  wonderful  memory, 

and  was  a  successful  student  of  men.     In  fact,  he  united 
13 


1 68  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  himself  all  the  qualifications  of  a  great  organizer. 
He  left  to  his  successors  a  Church  organization  fully  quali- 
fied for  the  great  work  of  uplifting  the  race  and  of  saving 
souls.  He  died  shortly  before  the  sitting  of  the  General 
Conference  of  1828. 

BISHOP    CHRISTOPHER   RUSH. 

Bishop  Rush  was  born  in  Craven  County,  N.  C,  in 
1777  (the  same  year  that  slavery  was  abolished  in  the 
State  of  Vermont).  His  parents  were  of  slave  descent; 
he  was  of  genuine  African  type.  He  embraced  religion 
in  1793,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years.  He  came  to  New 
York  in  1798,  five  years  after  he  embraced  religion,  being 
then  twenty-one  years  of  age ;  in  1 803  he  joined  the  Af- 
rican Methodist  Episcopal  Church  (afterward  known  as 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church) ;  in  18 15 
he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  in  1822  he  was  ordained 
a  deacon  and  elder  on  the  same  day  in  the  first  Annual 
Conference.  On  May  18,  1828,  in  General  Conference, 
he  was  elected  General  Superintendent  or  Bishop  of  the 
connection.  In  this  office  he  served  twenty-four  years. 
His  discontinuance  in  the  office  some  years  before  his 
decease  was  in  consequence  of  the  loss  of  his  sight,  which 
was  not  only  grievous  to  him,  but  also  to  the  Zion  Con- 
nection ;  it  was  an  irreparable  loss. 

His  personal  constitution :  physically  he  was  of  low 
stature,  of  prominent  muscular  development,  a  bilious 
temperament,  and  a  healthy  constitution ;  he  was  capable 
of  great  physical  endurance.  His  intellectual  faculties 
were  deep-seated,  strong,  and  vigorous;  as  a  reasoner 
he  was   clear  and  cogent ;    as  a  contestant  he  was  in- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        169 

superable ;  as  a  theologian  he  was  profound.  His  fund 
of  knowledge  was  vast  and  varied ;  his  mental  ability 
and  general  knowledge  were  so  ample  that  he  was  ever 
prepared  to  hold  sway  with  public  criticism  on  all  popular 


BISHOP    CHRISTOPHER   RUSH. 

and  great  questions  of  the  day.  Although  he  was  debarred 
by  the  prejudice  of  caste  from  collegiate  training,  yet  by 
his  extraordinary  work  of  self-culture  his  scholarly  at- 
tainments astonished  all  that  came  in  contact  with  him. 


lyo  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

His  manners:  he  was  reserved  in  manners,  stern  in 
address,  but  agreeable  and  entertaining  in  his  conversa- 
tion, always  instructive.  He  was  an  uncompromising 
foe  to  slavery,  to  intemperance,  to  American  Negro  pro- 
scription, to  episcopal  dominancy,  and  to  ecclesiastical 
oligarchy ;  equally  uncompromising  to  human  pride,  os- 
tentation, and  vanity. 

His  common  personal  demeanor :  in  his  deportment  he 
was  plain,  unassuming,  and  uninsinuating ;  he  was  homely 
in  his  attire,  common  in  his  diet,  and  easy  to  serve.  It 
was  a  studied  habit  with  him  to  give  as  little  trouble  as 
possible  to  his  attendants,  either  at  home  or  abroad ;  this 
was  a  style  of  deportment  he  vigorously  inculcated 
among  all  the  young  ministers,  with  many  other  highly 
important  lessons. 

His  ministerial  bearing:  his  deportment  as  a  clergy- 
man was  always  grave  and  dignified  in  all  circles  of  soci- 
ety. In  the  pulpit  he  was  always  very  earnest,  indicative 
of  his  consciousness  of  the  responsibility  of  the  work  laid 
upon  him.  He  was  very  observant  of  the  conduct  of  his 
young  ministers,  and  always  had  a  word  of  good  advice  to 
give  them  in  relation  to  their  studies  or  on  their  minis- 
terial deportment.  He  was  ever  willing  to  share  in  the 
hardships  of  his  ministers,  and  took  common  fare  in  life 
with  them. 

His  style  as  a  preacher:  as  a  preacher  his  style  was 
commanding;  his  voice  was  full,  clear,  and  musical;  he 
was  profound  in  thought,  earnest  and  pungent,  and 
sometimes  vehement.  He  maintained  at  all  times  great 
self-possession  in  the  pulpit,  never  aimed  at  embellish- 
ment in  his  discourses,  but  impressed  his  subjects  upon 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       171 

attentive  hearers,  edifying-  the  religious  and  awakening 
the  unconverted. 

His  ministerial  work :  he  entered  the  itinerancy  early 
in  his  ministerial  career,  and  as  a  traveling  preacher  was 
very  constant,  zealous,  and  successful  in  his  evangelical 
labors ;  he  had  to  suffer  hardships  and  privations,  which 
were  the  lot  of  all  colored  ministers  in  his  day.  But  his 
love  for  Christ  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  his  interest  in 
the  Church  and  the  well-being  of  his  race,  prompted  him 
to  endure  hardship  as  a  good  soldier.  He  was  possessed 
of  extraordinary  legislative  ability,  was  farsighted  in 
scanning  the  doubtful  results  of  ecclesiastical  measures, 
and  his  opinion  generally  controlled  Church  legislation. 
He  was  most  conclusive  in  his  deductions  on  all  questions 
submitted  to  his  judgment,  and  was  peculiarly  cautious 
in  making  any  new  departure  in  the  economy  of  the 
Church  government.  After  being  elected  to  the  office  of 
bishop  he  filled  the  position  with  great  ability  and  to 
the  full  satisfaction  of  all  his  subordinates,  whether  min- 
isterial or  lay.  During  the  entire  period  of  episcopal  office 
he  conducted  the  executive  affairs  with  the  highest  de- 
gree of  efficiency,  and  when  deprived  of  his  sight,  being 
disqualified  for  executive  duties,  his  counsel  was  eagerly 
sought  by  his  successors  in  office  and  the  Church  gener- 
ally"; and,  although  thus  afflicted,  he  would  attend  the 
Annual  and  General  Conferences  that  he  might  take 
part  in  their  legislation  on  vital  subjects.  This  he  con- 
tinued to  do  until  he  became  too  feeble  to  visit  the  Con- 
ferences. He  was  finally  confined  to  his  room  for  several 
years  before  his  demise,  and  died  in  the  full  triumphs 
of  faith. 


172  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

BISHOP   JOSEPH   JACKSON    CLINTON,    D.D. 

Bishop  Clinton  was  born  October  3,  1823,  in  Phil- 
adelphia, Pa.  He  studied  the  common  branches  of 
English  education  in  the  famous  Mr.  Bird's  school  at 
Philadelphia,  thence  went  to  the  Allegheny  Institute. 
He  embraced  religion  when  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  was 
licensed  as  a  local  preacher  when  seventeen.  In  1843 
he  joined  the  itinerancy  and  became  a  traveling  preacher; 
in  1845  was  ordained  a  deacon  and  in  1846  an  elder;  was 
elected  to  the  episcopal  office  in  1856.  He  had  a  high  and 
holy  ambition  to  make  himself  qualified  to  do  good  among 
his  fellow-men ;  when  he  was  a  youth  he  would  sacrifice 
comforts  and  pleasures  to  pursue  his  studies  successfully. 
His  sympathetic  nature  was  strongly  developed ;  sanctified 
as  it  was  by  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  he  was  always 
willing  to  share  the  sufferings  of  others.  He  was  faith- 
fully devoted  to  the  cause  he  espoused,  and  no  service 
was  too  hard,  no  sacrifice  too  great,  for  that  cause.  His 
attainments  were  of  no  ordinary  character ;  his  knowledge 
of  human  nature,  the  importance  of  his  holy  calling,  his 
social  relations — filial,  conjugal,  parental — these  had 
their  true  development  in  his  whole  life's  deportment. 
He  rendered  to  all  classes  their  just  dues,  from  the  high- 
est to  the  lowest.  All  good  institutions  had  his  favor 
and  cooperation.  Through  his  instrumentality  one  hun- 
dred thousand  Sunday  school  scholars  were  brought  into 
our  connection ;  during  his  episcopal  office  he  organized 
ten  Annual  Conferences,  and  also  took  into  the  connec- 
tion seven  hundred  itinerant  preachers.  As  an  executive 
officer  he  had  no  superior ;  for  twenty-five  years  he  filled 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH. 


173 


the  office  with  complete  success  and  satisfaction  to  his 
Church.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  a  prince  in  power,  dignity, 
and  effectiveness.  There  was  in  his  oratory  the  happiest 
result  of  nature  and  art  combined ;  his  eloquence  would 
sometimes  seem  to  be  charged   with  divine  electricity, 


BISHOP  J.   J.   CLINTON. 


stirring  the  most  stoical.  The  topical  was  generally  his 
method  of  homiletical  arrangement ;  in  his  discourses  he 
was  concise,  perspicuous,  forcible,  and  masterly.  In  his 
last  conversation  with  loved  ones,  who  gathered  round 
his  bedside,  he  said,  "All  is  well,  I  am  ready  for, the 
glorious  change."  He  fell  asleep  May  24,  1881,  at  At- 
lantic City,  N.  J.,  after  a  protracted  illness. 


174 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


BISHOP   JOHN   J.    MOORE. 

Bishop  Moore  was  born  about  1 804  in  Berkeley  County, 
Va.  He  was  therefore  about  eighty-nine  years  old  at  the 
time  of  his  death.  He  was  born  free,  but  his  mother 
was  kidnapped  and  carried  into  slavery,  from  which  she 
finally  escaped  with  two  of  her  children,  including  John. 


BISHOP  JOHN   J.   MOORE,   D.D. 

who  was  bound  out  to  a  farmer  in  Bedford  County,  Pa. 
He  was  taught  to  read  and  write,  and  acquired  a  knowl- 
edge of  farming,  for  which  he  showed  a  fondness  long  after 
his  strength  to  perform  it  forsook  him.  The  man  to  whom 
he  was  bound  robbed  him  of  two  years  or  more,  and  would 
have  continued  the  robbery  but  for  a  friendly  Quaker, 
who  informed  him  that  his  time  was  out,  and  advised  him 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 75 

to  leave,  and  agreed  to  stand  by  him  if  the  man  claimed 
longer  time.  The  fact  that  the  man  made  no  effort  to  get 
him  back  was  regarded  by  him  as  evidence  that  the  infor- 
mation he  had  received  was  correct.  In  Bishop  Moore's 
History  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  his 
birth  is  put  in  the  year  18 18.  That  is  evidently  a  mis- 
print or  mistake,  for  according  to  the  statement  which 
follows  he  could  not  have  been  much  less  than  twenty-five 
when  he  visited  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  about  the  year  1830.  If 
it  is  a  fact,  as  he  believed,  that  he  was  robbed  of  two  years' 
time,  he  was  twenty-three  when  he  left  the  man  to  whom 
he  was  bound.  Then  he  worked  six  months  for  another 
man,  to  pay  a  debt  contracted  during  his  bondage.  After- 
ward he  worked  for  himself  until  he  had  saved  $15,  before 
he  went  to  Harrisburg.  As  wages  were  low  and  clothing 
comparatively  high  in  those  days  it  took  a  young  man 
some  time  to  fix  himself  up  and  save  money  enough  to 
start  off  to  the  city  with,  the  city  being  more  than  a 
hundred  miles  away.  From  what  the  bishop  says  of  his 
occupation  there  it  must  have  been  at  least  three  or  four 
years  before  his  return  to  Bedford  in  1833.  He  could  not 
then  have  been  less  than  twenty-eight  or  nine,  whereas 
if  born  in  18 18  he  would  only  have  been  fifteen  years 
old.  It  is  therefore  evident  that  18 18  is  a  mistake  by 
at  least  from  twelve  to  fifteen  years.  Supposing  that 
he  was  twenty-five  when  he  went  to  Harrisburg  and  that 
he  remained  there  four  years  before  returning  to  Bedford 
in  1833,  that  would  make  him  twenty-nine  years  old,  and 
would  make  the  year  of  his  birth  1804.  This  accords 
with  other  facts.  He  and  Rev.  David  Stevens  were 
young  men  together,  and  it  was  always  understood  that 


176  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Stevens  was  five  years  older  than  Moore.  This  was 
understood  at  a  period  when  there  was  not  much  difficulty 
in  fixing  upon  his  age  as  nearly  as  it  could  be  known. 
Stevens  died  in  1882,  at  about  eighty-three  years  of  age. 
Hence  he  must  have  been  born  in  1799.  ^  Bishop  Moore 
was  five  years  younger  he  must  have  been  born  in  1804. 

Walter  Booth  died  in  1891,  in  his  seventy-seventh  year. 
He  used  to  say  that  Bishop  Moore  was  a  man  grown  and 
preaching  when  he  was  a  little  boy.  He  supposed  that 
there  was  at  least  fifteen  years'  difference  in  their  ages. 
Let  us  suppose  that  he  was  mistaken  by  five  years,  and 
that  there  was  not  more  than  ten  years'  difference.  Booth 
was  born  in  18 14;  this  again  would  put  Bishop  Moore's 
birth  in  the  year  1804.  We  think  this  is  as  near  as  we 
are  likely  to  get  to  his  exact  age.  The  bishop  himself, 
when  we  last  talked  to  him  on  the  subject,  was  inclined  to 
accept  our  figures  as  about  correct.  It  was  then  that  he 
told  us  of  the  two  years  of  which  he  was  robbed  by  the 
man  to  whom  he  was  bound  for  service. 

The  bishop  embraced  religion  while  in  Harrisburg, 
Pa.,  in  1833,  and  was  soon  after  impressed  with  his  call 
to  the  ministry ;  was  licensed  to  exhort  in  the  same 
city  in  1834,  and  to  preach  about  a  year  later.  He  felt 
his  lack  of  the  education  necessary  for  the  ministerial 
work,  with  the  importance  of  which  he  was  deeply  im- 
pressed. During  his  minority  he  had  only  received  in- 
struction for  a  few  weeks  each  year  from  the  time  he 
was  bound  to  service. 

In  1836  he  employed  private  teachers  and  took  lessons 
in  the  English  branches,  and  also  in  Latin,  Greek,  and 
Hebrew,  and  thus  acquired  sufficient  knowledge  in  all  of 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       177 

these  languages  to  enable  him  to  pursue  his  calling  so 
well  that  he  soon  became  one  of  the  most  noted  black 
preachers  of  his  day.  He  was  soon  designated  as  the 
''silver-tongued  orator."  He  was  also  noted  for  extraor- 
dinary penmanship.  He  united  with  the  Philadelphia 
Conference,  as  an  itinerant  preacher,  in  1839,  an^-  con- 
tinued a  member  of  that  Conference  until  he  was  made 
bishop  in  1868. 

He  sailed  for  California  in  1852,  where  he  succeeded 
in  planting  the  standard  of  Zion.  He  established 
churches  at  San  Francisco,  San  Jose,  and  Napa.  The 
one  at  San  Francisco  is  the  largest  colored  church  on 
the  Pacific  coast;  the  one  at  San  Jose  is  also  a  flour- 
ishing church ;  the  one  at  Napa  has  ceased  an  active 
existence  because  the  colored  people  have  forsaken  the 
place.  He  came  East  in  1868,  and  was  set  apart  to  the 
episcopal  office.  During  his  episcopate  he  had  charge 
of  California,  Canada  and  Michigan,  Florida,  Arkansas, 
New  York,  New  England,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore, 
Virginia,  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi,  Georgia,  and 
all  the  Carolina  Conferences.  He  was  not  a  great  or- 
ganizer ;  he  had  not  the  peculiar  ability  to  marshal  forces 
for  success,  but  he  was  truly  a  great  preacher.  He  was 
regarded  as  the  greatest  black  preacher  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  some  spoke  of  him  as  the  greatest  preacher, 
regardless  of  color.  His  eloquence  was  enrapturing,  and 
his  imaginative  and  descriptive  powers  were  marvelous. 

On  his  way  across  the  ocean  to  England  he  preached 
for  the  passengers,  who  were  so  pleased  that  they  raised 
for  him  $150,  and  he  was  a  wonder  to  the  people  on 
the  other  side  of  the  ocean.     He  was  decidedly  conscien- 


178  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

tious,  and  would  not  suffer  malice  to  rankle  in  his  bosom. 
If  he  thought  one  had  treated  him  wrongfully  he  sought 
an  early  opportunity  to  speak  of  it,  and  a  very  little 
apology  satisfied  him  if  he  believed  it  sincere.  He  had 
an  excellent  Christian  character  and  an  untarnished  moral 
reputation.  We  could  not  agree  with  him  in  all  his 
theological  notions,  but  he  was  broad  and  liberal,  and 
thought  he  had  scriptural  support  for  every  idea  ad- 
vanced. He  loved  his  Church,  and  was  willing  to  make 
great  sacrifices  for  its  advancement.  He  had  an  ambition 
to  travel  as  much  and  do  as  much  as  any  other  bishop, 
notwithstanding  his  great  age.  He  had  great  love  for 
his  race,  and  gloried  in  its  every  honorable  achievement. 
He  fell  at  his  post. 

BISHOP    S.    T.    W.    JONES. 

Among  the  distinguished  men  developed  by  the  Church 
Bishop  Singleton  Thomas  Webster  Jones  holds  the  first 
rank.  He  was  what  is  called  a  self-made  man.  His 
early  advantages  were  poor.  When  he  entered  the  min- 
istry he  had  scarcely  the  rudiments  of  an  English  educa- 
tion, but  he  was  sensible  of  the  importance  and  re- 
sponsibilities of  his  calling,  and  he  went  to  work  to 
prepare  himself ;  and  it  is  wonderful  how  much  he  ac- 
complished on  that  line.  He  so  acquainted  himself  with 
the  English  language  that  he  could  select  the  most  choice 
and  fitting  words  to  express  his  ideas,  and  could  form  most 
beautiful  and  expressive  sentences.  He  was  a  fine  and 
logical  reasoner,  and  as  a  theologian  he  was  entirely  safe. 
He  was  original  without  being  wild.  He  kept  to  the  old 
beaten  path  of  Methodism,  but  he  was  constantly  bring- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 79 

ing  to  view  new  beauties  along  that  old  path.  We  never 
knew  him  to  make  a  theological  utterance  which  seemed 
to  us  unsound.  He  had  the  title  of  Doctor  of  Divinity, 
but  he  was  that  and  more,  he  was  Doctor  of  Laws  as 
well.  In  debate  he  was  hard  to  equal ;  he  would  find 
the  weak  places  in  the  position  of  his  antagonist  and 
then  show  them  up  with  terrible  effect.  He  was  an  ex- 
traordinary organist.  He  seemed  to  throw  his  whole 
soul  into  the  organ,  which  responded  to  his  touch  and 
gave  forth  the  sweetest  notes.  He  possessed  a  most 
lively  faith ;  as  to  his  spiritual  state,  he  never  seemed  to 
have  a  doubt.  Future  and  eternal  happiness  with  him 
was  a  foregone  conclusion.  His  pastoral  work  covered 
a  period  of  nineteen  years,  and  he  was  always  successful. 
We  have  heard  him  say  that  one  of  his  best  appoint- 
ments was  one  to  which  he  went  with  very  great  reluc- 
tance ;  he  believed  that  his  appointment  was  the  result 
of  unfriendly  feelings  on  the  part  of  the  bishop,  but 
it  proved  not  only  a  blessing  to  the  Church,  but  resulted 
in  his  securing  the  home  which  he  left  to  his  family. 
His  last  pastoral  charge  was  the  mother  Church,  Old 
Zion,  in  New  York.  Rev.  A.  Walters,  who  took 
charge  just  twenty  years  later,  was  the  first  to  surpass 
Bishop  Jones's  record  in  the  number  of  converts  in  one 
revival. 

Bishop  Jones  was  born  March  8,  1825,  in  Wrightsville, 
Pa.  He  embraced  religion  in  Harrisburg,  in  February, 
1842,  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1846,  joined  the  Annual 
Conference  in  1849,  received  elders'  orders  in  185 1,  was 
elected  bishop  May  19,  1868,  and  was  consecrated  May  31. 
He  departed  this  life  on  Saturday,  April  18,  1891.     His 


l8o  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

funeral  was  attended  by  all  the  surviving  bishops  of  his 
own  connection,  two  of  the  bishops  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  more  than  fifty  min- 
isters. He  was  the  fifth  of  our  bishops  who  died  in  active 
service.  His  arrangements  for  the  Conference  which 
was  held  soon  after  his  death  were  carried  out  as  nearly 
as  they  could  well  have  been  if  he  had  lived.  The  two 
things  which  engaged  his  thoughts  most  during  his  last 
days  were  his  family  and  his  Church.  For  these  he 
had  given  his  life,  and  death  alone  gave  him  rest  from 
the  care  he  had  assumed. 

BISHOP   J.    W.    LOGUEN. 

We  find  that  Bishop  Moore,  in  his  History,  passes 
Bishop  J.  W.  Loguen  in  silence.  Among  the  men  of  his 
day  there  were  few  more  distinguished  than  he.  A 
fugitive  from  bondage  himself,  he  made  it  his  business 
to  aid  others  in  making  their  escape  from  that  hell  on 
earth.  It  is  doubtful  if  any  one  man  did  more  than 
Bishop  Loguen  in  aiding  those  who  were  in  search  of 
liberty ;  hence  he  was  called  the  ' '  Underground  Rail- 
road King."  He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Fred  Doug- 
lass ;  Douglass's  son  married  his  daughter,  and  they  both 
had-  considerable  means  and  vied  with  each  other  in  giv- 
ing the  young  people  a  start  in  life. 

Bishop  Loguen  was  not  a  great  preacher ;  he  was  more 
suited  to  the  platform  as  a  public  lecturer,  especially  on 
the  subject  of  slavery.  As  such  he  was  scarcely  less 
popular  than  Douglass  himself.  It  was  this,  and  not  his 
ability  as  a  preacher,  that  brought  him  to  the  frOnt  in 
the  Church.      He  was  elected  bishop  in  1864,  but  discov- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       l8l 

ering  that  he  was  likely  to  be  sent  to  Southern  work,  and 
thinking  it  too  early  for  a  fugitive  to  return  to  that  land, 
he  resigned. 

In  1868  he  was  brought  forward  again.  He  met 
some  opposition  because  he  had  resigned  when  first 
elected.  They  could  easily  have  beaten  him  but  for  the 
fact  that  they  had  determined  to  have  six  bishops  (two 
more  than  were  needed).  The  rule  then  was  to  send 
out  a  nominating  committee,  who  arranged  to  get  the 
man  they  wanted  elected  by  putting  up  a  man  against 
him  whom  nobody  expected  would  get  elected,  but  upon 
whom  the  opposition  could  throw  away  their  votes. 
Sometimes,  however,  they  would  run  in  what  is  known 
in  politics  as  a  dark  horse.  The  attempt  was  made  to 
beat  two  of  the  regular  nominees  at  this  General  Confer- 
ence in  that  way.  Hence  it  will  be  seen  by  the  Minutes 
that  notwithstanding  J.  P.  Thompson,  who  was  nomi- 
nated against  Loguen,  refused  to  run,  yet  another  brother, 
who  was  not  on  the  ticket  presented  by  the  nominating 
committee,  received  thirty-one  votes,  and  there  were  four 
scattering  votes,  which  left  Loguen  forty-one,  only  six 
majority.  He  was  appointed  to  the  Fifth  District,  includ- 
ing the  Allegheny  and  Kentucky  Conferences  and  adja- 
cent mission  fields.  At  the  end  of  two  years  he  was  to 
change  with  Bishop  Jones  and  go  to  the  Second  District, 
including  the  Genesee  and  the  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more Conferences.  He  thus  had  four  years  of  very 
pleasant  work.  But  in  1872  he  was  appointed  to  the 
oversight  of  mission  work  on  the  Pacific  coast,  which  ap- 
pointment he  did  not  long  survive.  We  do  not  think  he 
reached  his  field  of  labor. 


1 82  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

BISHOP   J.    D.    BROOKS. 

Bishop  Moore,  in  his  History,  gives  us  only  a  good  pic- 
ture of  Bishop  J.  D.  Brooks.  He  was  elected  in  1864. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  natural  ability ;  was  a  good  plain 
speaker,  and  could,  under  some  circumstances,  rise  to 
wonderful  force  in  presenting  truth.  As  a  pastor  he  was 
too  rigid  and  dogmatic  for  great  success  in  building  up 
the  church.  He  thought  it  better  to  have  twenty  mem- 
bers who  were  according  to  his  notion  than  a  church 
full  who  were  not.  For  his  members  to  appear  at  the 
sacrament  with  earrings  or  finger-rings  or  ruffles  or 
flowers  was  sufficient  provocation  for  him  to  pass  them 
by.  He  did  not  need  much  more  to  induce  him  to  turn 
members  out  of  church.  If  members  talked  about  his 
rigid  course  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  get  some  one  who 
agreed  with  him  to  bring  charges  against  them  for  sow- 
ing discord,  and  members  thus  unreasonably  brought  up 
are  quite  likely  to  be  stubborn,  and  their  stubbornness 
would  seem  to  justify  him  in  excluding  them.  The 
establishment  of  the  St.  Paul's  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  Washington  City  was  the  result  of  a  split 
in  Wesley  Zion  Church  during  his  administration ;  it 
commenced  by  his  passing  a  few  prominent  members  at 
the  sacrament.  The  feeling  produced  lasted  for  many 
years ;  thirty  years  have  passed,  but  we  are  not  sure  that 
all  the  wounds  are  yet  healed.  Those  who  held  with  him 
would  almost  have  suffered  martyrdom  in  his  defense, 
for  they  believed  him  to  be  an  extraordinarily  good  man. 
He  had  a  strong  moral  character,  and  was  regarded  as 
a  very  devout  Christian.     Those  who  held  to  him  be- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 83 

lieved  that  he  was  hated  because  he  was  strict  and  good. 
We  thought  he  was  one  of  the  best  men  we  ever  met. 
He  got  up  in  the  pulpit  once  after  we  had  preached  to  a 
packed  house  and  publicly  rebuked  us  for  not  saying 
more  on  a  single  point  in  our  subject.  He  had  no  com- 
plaint to  make  of  what  we  had  said,  but  claimed  that  we 
left  the  subject  too  quickly.  We  had  said  something 
about  pride,  but  did  not  dwell  on  the  subject  long.  He 
thought  that  we  should  at  that  point  have  given  the  peo- 
ple a  general  tongue-lashing  about  fine  dress,  etc.  He 
said  the  Spirit  was  driving  us  in  that  direction,  but  we, 
like  a  miserable  coward,  had  dodged.  Our  reverence 
for  him  was  so  great  that  we'  received  his  rebuke  with 
the  meekness  of  a  child.  We  have  no  reason  to-day  to 
change  our  opinion  respecting  his  honesty  of  purpose  or 
sincerity  of  intention ;  but  a  man  of  less  practicabilit)^ 
could  hardly  have  been  found.  He  had  none  of  that 
notion  announced  by  Paul  when  he  said,  "  I  become  all 
things  to  all  men;  that  I  may  by  all  means  gain  some." 
This,  it  seems  to  us,  is  a  common-sense  view;  do  the 
good  you  can  in  whatever  way  you  can. 

It  is  a  great  deal  easier  to  let  down  the  fence  at  another 
place  and  drive  out  a  hog  than  it  is  to  make  him  go  out 
through  the  hole  under  the  fence  at  which  he  went  in.  But 
there  are  men  who  would  try  to  make  the  hog  go  out  at  that 
hole  if  they  lost  three  or  four  hours  in  the  attempt.  We 
have  known  quite  a  number  of  good  men  who,  like  Bishop 
Brooks,  failed  for  the  want  of  that  sagacity  which  enables 
a  man  to  see  that  it  is  best  to  do  what  you  can  or  make 
the  most  of  your  situation. .    Lead  men  to  see  as  you  see, 

if  you  can,  but  do  not  attempt  to  drive  them.     Bishop 
14 


184  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Brooks  failed  as  a  bishop  for  the  same  reasons  that  he 
had  failed  as  a  pastor,  and  has  left  us  the  admonition 
that  if  a  man  is  a  failure  as  a  pastor  it  is  unwise  to  make' 
him  a  bishop.  After  his  first  four  years'  service  there 
was  an  attempt  to  drive  him  from  the  field  by  compelling 
him  to  resign.  He  was  appointed  to  the  mission  field 
on  the  Pacific  coast.  He  tendered  his  resignation,  but 
finally  withdrew  it  with  the  understanding  that  he  was 
to  remain  inactive  during  the  period  of  that  appointment. 
In  1872  he  was  retired  and  made  chairman  of  the  Book 
Concern.      He  died  in  a  good  old  age. 

BISHOP    W.    H.    BISHOP. 

We  have  mentioned  Bishop  W.  H.  Bishop  in  connec- 
tion with  the  split,  but  think  a  more  extended  notice  is 
due  to  his  memory.  He  was  truly  a  great  man  in  many 
respects:  he  was  v/ell  equipped  as  a  leader;  he  had  a 
fine,  commanding  figure;  he  stood  at  least  six  feet  high 
and  was  well  proportioned ;  he  was  a  splendid  specimen 
of  the  full-blooded  Negro ;  he  had  a  melodious  voice  and 
pleasant  face  ;  he  was  a  natural,  easy,  and  fluent  speaker, 
frequently  carrying  his  congregation  up  to  a  degree  of 
rapture  which  would  cause  them  to  break  out  in  shouts  of 
praise.  Notwithstanding  the  stormy  time  in  which  he 
served  the  Church,  it  is  doubtful  if  any  man  was  more 
loved  by  his  people  than  he.  He  was  retired  at  his  own 
request  in  1868. 

BISHOP    S.    D.    TALBOT. 

Another  of  the  very  distinguished  men  of  our  Church 
was  Bishop  S.  D.  Talbot.  He  was  elected  bishop  in 
1864.      Bishop  Talbot  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       1 85 

men  as  well  as  one  of  the  best  preachers  of  his  day. 
During-  his  pastorate  he  had  charge  of  the  most  important 
churches  in  the  connection,  including  New  York  and 
Boston  ;  and  the  man  who  was  a  success  in  either  of  those 
churches  was  considered  a  strong  man.  Bishop  Talbot 
was  always  a  success  as  a  pastor,  and  was  equally  so  as  a 
bishop.  He  had  charge  of  the  First  District,  including 
the  New  York,  New  England,  and  Genesee  Conferences, 
for  two  years,  and  then  went  to  the  Fourth  District,  in- 
cluding- the  Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Louisiana  Confer- 
ences. After  fourteen  years'  service  he  died  at  his  home 
in  Georgia.  He  will  Ions:  be  remembered  in  that  section 
as  one  of  the  pioneer  bishops.  Respected  by  all  classes, 
and  considering  that  he  lived  in  the  hottest  region  during 
the  hottest  period  of  the  reconstruction,  and  he  a  North- 
ern man,  this  speaks  volumes  for  his  sagacity  and  Chris- 
tian bearing. 

BISHOP    J.    W.    HOOD,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

Bishop  Hood  was  born  in  Kennett  Township,  Chester 
County,  Pa. ,  May  30,  1 83  1 .  He  was  early  impressed  with 
his  accountability — as  early,  he  thinks,  as  his  fourth  year. 
At  about  eleven  he  experienced  a  change,  but  such  was 
the  extravagance  in  the  professions  of  many  around  him 
that  he  struggled  amid  doubts  and  fears  for  seven  years 
before  he  was  satisfied  that  it  was  well  with  his  soul.  His 
own  sister,  Charlotte,  was  the  means  finally  of  leading1 
him  to  see  that  faith  was  all  that  a  penitent  sinner  needed. 

At  about  his  twenty-first  year  he  was  impressed  with 
his  call  to  the  ministry ;  he  mentioned  the  matter  to  a 
preacher,    whom   he   supposed   would    present   it   to   the 


1 86 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


Quarterly  Conference.  He  there  let  it  rest,  and  tried 
to  feel  that  his  own  responsibility  was  at  an  end.  In 
this  he  was  entirely  successful  so  long  as  he  remained 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Quarterly  Conference  to 
which  that  preacher  belonged.  But  when  he  moved  to 
New  York  and  united  with  the  church  there  he  felt  that 

the  responsibility 
rested  again  upon 
himself.  After 
some  further  delay 
he  finally  peti- 
tioned for  license 
to  preach,  which 
was  granted  in  the 
latter  part  of  1856. 
The  following  year 
he  moved  to  New 
Haven,  where  he 
was  received  into 
the  Quarterly  Con- 
ference of  the  Af- 
rican  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion 
Church.  In  June,  1858,  the  pulpit  of  that  church  became 
vacant  by  reason  of  the  failure  of  the  minister  appointed 
to  appear.  He  had  heard  that  the  church  did  not  want 
him,  and  thought  he  would  let  the  people  see  that  he  could 
get  along  without  them.  In  this  state  of  affairs  the  bishop 
took  up  the  subject  of  this  sketch  in  the  interval  of  the 
Annual  Conference  and  put  him  in  charge  of  the  church. 
At  the  close  of  that  Conference  year  he  was  received  into 


BISHOP  J.   W.    HOOD,    D.D.,    LL.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       1 87 

the  New  England  Annual  Conference  on  trial  and  ap- 
pointed as  a  missionary  to  Nova  Scotia.  As  there  were 
no  funds  on  hand  to  send  him  out  he  returned  to  New 
York  and  went  to  work  in  a  hotel  for  thirteen  months,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  he  had  saved  enough  to  provide  for 
his  family  and  to  take  him  to  his  field  of  labor.  He  was 
ordained  a  deacon  in  Boston,  Mass.,  the  first  Sunday  in 
September,  i860,  and  sailed  for  Halifax  the  following 
Wednesday.  At  the  end  of  one  year  he  sent  for  his- 
family.  In  1862  he  met  the  Conference  in  Hartford, 
Conn.,  and  was  ordained  elder.  At  the  end  of  three 
years  he  brought  his  family  with  him  to  meet  the  Con- 
ference at  Boston.  His  success  had  not  been  great;  he 
had,  however,  succeeded  in  supporting  his  family  in  a 
strange  land  without  aid  from  the  Mission  Board,  except 
six  dollars  toward  getting  his  wife  out  of  Washington 
(at  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Bull  Run)  on  her  way  to 
New  Bedford,  Mass. 

He  organized  one  church  composed  of  eleven  mem- 
bers in  a  settlement  of  Hard-shell  Baptists.  When  he 
first  reached  that  settlement,  after  walking  forty-five 
miles  through  a  strange  country,  he  went  to  every  house 
in  the  settlement  before  he  got  a  stopping  place.  They 
told  him  there  were  no  Methodists  there  and  that  they 
did  not  want  any.  But  the  only  hope  that  he  had  of 
staying  in  that  country  was  to  plant  a  church  there,  and 
he  succeeded.  The  place  was  called  Englewood,  about 
a  mile  from  Bridgeton.  He  traveled  and  preached  at 
•  private  houses  and  at  white  churches ;  but  this  small 
congregation  was  all  that  he  had  to  depend  upon  among 
his  own  people. 


1 88  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

On  his  return  to  the  States  in  1863  he  was  stationed  at 
Bridgeport,  Conn.  After  six  months'  service  in  that 
charge  he  was  sent  as  a  missionary  to  North  Carolina. 
He  had  charge  three  years  at  New  Berne,  two  at  Fay- 
etteville,  and  three  and  a  half  at  Charlotte.  In  1872  he 
was  set  apart  to  the  episcopal  office.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Ecumenical  Conference  in  London  in  1881,  also  in 
Washington  City,  1891,  and  was  the  first  colored  man 
who  presided  over  that  body.  He  is  the  author  of  a 
book  of  sermons,  which  has  been  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  as  a  standard  work. 

BISHOP    JOSEPH    P.    THOMPSON. 

''Joseph  P.  Thompson  has  resided  in  this  city  for  many 
years.  The  highest  honors  of  his  Church  have  been  con- 
ferred upon  him,  and  in  his  official  capacity  he  has  exerted 
a  wonderful  influence  with  his  people  and  done  much  to 
elevate  their  moral  and  social  condition. 

' '  Bishop  Thompson  was  born  in  slavery  at  Winchester, 
Va.,  December  20,  18 18.  He  ran  away  from  his  master 
while  yet  a  youth,  and  found  a  home  with  a  kind-hearted 
man  in  Pennsylvania.  He  was  brought  up  in  a  good  fam- 
ily, under  moral  and  religious  influences,  and  encouraged 
to  improve  all  the  advantages  that  could  be  afforded  him 
for  his  future  welfare.  He  was  sent  to  night  school  and 
permitted  to  attend  the  district  school  during  the  winter 
months,  and  thus  acquired  a  common  school  education. 
He  was  naturally  studious,  loved  books,  and  early  deter- 
mined to  qualify  himself  for  some  useful  vocation  in  life. 
Though  his  opportunities  were  limited,  he  was  ambitious, 
and   resolved  to  enter  a  profession  or  calling  where  he 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        1 89 

could  help  his  less  favored  people.  It  so  happened  that 
he  had  the  opportunity  to  study  medicine  with  a  physician 
residing  at  Middletown  Point,  now  Matteawan,  N.  J.,  a 
study  which  he  has  continued  through  life.-  But  serious 
thoughts  of  preferring  holy  orders  to  any  other  profession 


BISHOP   JOSEPH    P.    THOMPSON,  M.D.,  D.D. 

gave  a  happy  turn  to  his  mind,  and  he  decided  in  favor 
of  the  ministry.  He  read  theology  under  the  direction 
of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Mills,  of  Auburn — a  privilege  which 
he  has   often  mentioned  to  his  friends  with  an  indelible 


190  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

sentiment  of  gratitude.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in 
1839,  and  attracted  much  attention  and  drew  large  crowds 
to  hear  him.  His  sermons  were  delivered  with  animation 
and  zeal 

"In  1853  he  was  sent  by  his  Church  to  Halifax,  Nova 
Scotia,  where  he  preached  with  acceptance,  and  found 
great  demand  for  his  medical  skill.  In  this  he  was  so 
successful  that  he  concluded  to  return  to  the  States  and 
take  a  regular  course  in  a  medical  college.  He  succeeded 
in  this  resolve  and  graduated  from  the  University  of 
Medicine  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  with  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Medicine,  his  diploma  bearing  date  April  1, 
1858.  Since  then  he  has  devoted  his  life  to  the  service  of 
his  Church  and  people,  equally  competent  to  preach 
the  Gospel  and  administer  to  the  sick  and  dying. 

' '  By  precept  and  example  he  has  taught  and  encouraged 
his  people,  and  been  to  them  a  benefactor  and  faithful 
friend.  He  has  served  almost  all  the  churches  in  the 
Zion  Connection  along  the  Hudson,  and  was  three  times 
pastor  of  the  Zion  Church  in  this  city.  His  faithful  and 
efficient  services  have  not  been  unrewarded  ;  and  in  July, 
1876,  he  was  consecrated  to  the  bishopric  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  the  city  of  Louisville, 
Ky.  This  distinguished  mark  of  confidence  and  esteem 
on  the  part  of  his  denomination  at  once  commended  him 
to  the  attention  and  respect  of  all  other  sects  and 
creeds,  and  he  has  become  one  of  the  most  popular  and 
honored  men  in  the  ministry.  Officials  at  Washington 
have  frequently  conferred  with  him  on  public  measures, 
especially  on  affairs  in  the  South.  In  188 1  he  was  invited 
to  England,   and  by  special  request  read  a  paper  before 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       191 

the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  Methodist  Churches  con- 
vened in  London  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 

' '  During  the  last  fifteen  years  he  has  been  engaged  in 
his  duties  as  a  bishop,  a  position  of  great  importance  and 
responsibility.  Mrs.  Thompson,*  the  partner  of  his 
youth,  is  still  spared  to  him.  She  is  a  most  estimable 
woman,  deeply  interested  in  her  husband's  lifework,  and 
for  many  years  past  the  treasurer  of  the  missionary  funds 
of  their  Church.  They  have  one  daughter,  the  wife  of 
Professor  D.  B.  Alsdorf,  residing  in  this  city." — Copied 
from  "  Newburg,  Her  Institutions  and  Leading  Citizens." 

BISHOP    THOMAS    HENRY    LOMAX,    D.D., 

Bishop  of  the  Fifth  Episcopal  District  of  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

Bishop  Lomax  was  born  1836,  in  Cumberland  County, 
N.  C.  He  is  the  son  of  Enoch  Lomax  and  grandson  of 
William  Lomax,  who  came  to  America  with  General 
La  Fayette  from  the  French  Colony  in  Africa.  William 
Lomax  joined  the  Revolutionary  War  under  General 
George  Washington  and  General  La  Fayette,  fighting 
faithfully  to  the  close  of  the  war  to  secure  the  liberty  of 
America.  He  was  a  pensioner  until  the  day  of  his  death. 
He  died  in  full  triumph  of  gospel  faith  as  a  Methodist  at 
the  ripe  age  of  one  hundred  and  five  years.  He  was 
honored  with  a  military  burial  by  the  remnant  of  his 
regiment. 

Enoch  Lomax,  the  father  of  our  subject,  was  united  in 
marriage  to  Rachel  Hammonds,  the  daughter  of  Isaac 
and  Dicy  Hammonds,  and  was  of  Indian  descent. 

*  Deceased  since  the  above  was  written. 


192 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


Thomas  Henry  Lomax,  the  seventh  son  of  Enoch  and 
Rachel  Lomax,  joined,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  in  the  )~ear  1848,  under  Dr.  Pritchard.  He  was 
converted  in  1849,  in  the  town  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  and 
was  made  a  class  leader  in    1850.      He,  with  the  assist - 


B1SHOP   T.    H.    LOiMAX,    D.D. 

ance  of  others,  erected  the  first  brick  church  in  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection  in  the 
South,  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  named  Evans  Chapel. 

He  was  licensed  to  preach  in    1867  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood  ;  was  ordained  a  deacon  by  Bishop  J.J.  Clinton  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        1 93 

an  elder  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Moore.  He  was  sent  to  the 
Whitesville  mission  field,  where  he  built  a  ehurch ;  he 
organized  and  built  churches  at  Flemington,  Swamp,  and 
Christian  Plains;  reorganized  at  Shady  Grove,  Brown's 
Chapel,  and  Goose  Creek.  He  took  charge  as  presiding 
elder  of  all  the  churches  in  the  following  counties :  New 
Hanover,  Brunswick,  Bladen,  Columbus,  Sampson,  and 
Duplin  during  the  fight  of  Price  and  Lavender  against 
the  connection ;  and  in  the  same  year  organized  five 
churches  in  Marlboro  District,  S.  C.  The  next  year  he 
reorganized  at  Laurinburg,  and  was  appointed  elder  in 
charge  of  the  church  in  Charlotte,  N.  C,  where  he 
served  three  years.  During  his  first  two  years  as 
pastor  he  added  seven  hundred  members  to  the  church 
and  organized  Little  Rock  Church.  He  was  elected  to 
the  bishopric  by  the  General  Conference  at  Louisville, 
Ky.,  in  1876,  and  was  appointed  to  a  missionary  field 
in  Canada,  Ont.,  where  he  organized  the  Michigan  and 
Canada  Conference.  He  ordained  twenty-nine  elders 
and  deacons  at  this  Conference,  brought  in  twenty-eight 
churches  valued  at  $15,000,  and  had  the  Conference 
chartered  in  the  name  of  the  Queen  of  England.  He 
organized  the  Texas  Conference,  in  which  he  ordained 
eighteen  elders  and  deacons  and  brought  into  the  con- 
nection $18,000  worth  of  property.  He  was  appointed 
to  the  Seventh  Episcopal  District,  embracing  West  Ala- 
bama, Louisiana,  and  California  Conference.  He  was 
next  appointed  to  what  was  then  known  as  the  Fifth 
Episcopal  District,  in  which  he  labored  three  years  with 
his  usual  success.  During  this  period  he  organized  the 
Missouri  and  South  Georgia  Conferences.     He  was  ap- 


194  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

pointed  to  the  South  Carolina  District,  where  he  ordained 
fifty  elders  and  deacons. 

His  next  appointment  was  to  what  is  now  known  as 
the  Fifth  Episcopal  District,  where  he  organized  the  fol- 
lowing Conferences :  South  Florida,  East  Tennessee, 
Virginia,  and  North  Carolina.  On  this  district  ninety- 
six  new  churches  have  been  built  in  the  last  three  years. 

Through  his  instrumentality  and  influence  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Publication  House  was  secured 
at  Charlotte,  N.  C,  in  which  the  Star  of  Zion,  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Quarterly,  and  all  our  Sabbath 
school  literature  will  be  published.  This  building  is  to 
be  called  the  Varick  Memorial  Building,  and  bids  fair 
to  become  a  center  of  attraction. 

Bishop  Lomax  has  always  been  careful  to  provide  for 
the  best  interests  of  his  ministers,  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  as  well  as  for  the  churches. 

He  is  a  self-educated  man,  comparatively  speaking. 
When  quite  a  youth  he  employed  himself  in  grubbing 
stumps  at  night  to  procure  funds  for  his  night  schooling ; 
in  this  way  he  learned  to  write,  read,  and  cipher  before 
the  war.  From  that  time  until  now  he  has  been  a  hard 
student.  JuSt  after  the  war  he  taught  a  flourishing 
school  at  Whitesville,  N.  C,  and  other  places,  and  has 
always  been  interested  in  educational  work.  As  an  evi- 
dence of  this  fact  we  point  with  pride  to  the  erection  of 
the  Greenville  High  School,  located  at  Greenville,  Tenn. ; 
also  to  the  prospective  erection  of  the  Lomax  and  Hannon 
High  School  at  Greenville,  Ala.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  he  was  one  of  the  committee  who  selected  the  site 
upon  which  Livingstone  College  stands,  paying  the  first 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.        I95 

ten  dollars  on  college  certificates.  He  also  assisted  in 
laying  the  first  brick  in  the  foundation  of  the  first  dormi- 
tory erected  on  the  college  grounds,  and  is  now  one  of 
the  trustees  of  that  institution.  He  has  planned  with 
others  to  erect  a  high  school  at  Bartow,  Fla.,  having 
agreed  to  donate  the  land  in  connection  with  Rev.  W.  C. 
Vesta  and  Thomas  H.  Darley.  Thus  he  has  shown  him- 
self a  friend  and  advocate  of  education. 

Bishop  Lomax's  sermons  are  original,  profound,  and 
inspiring,  his  style  of  preaching  singular  and  impressive. 
He  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Liv- 
ingstone College,  and  wears  it  with  honor. 

BISHOP    CHARLES    CALVIN    PETTEY,    A.M.,    D.D. 

Charles  Calvin  Pettey,  son  of  Jordan  and  Fannie  Pet- 
tey,  was  born  December  3,  1849,  on  the  banks  of  the 
North  Yadkin  River,  about  four  miles  east  of  Wilkes- 
boro,  the  county  seat  of  Wilkes  County,  N.  C.  This 
valley  is  very  rich  in  sandy  loam,  and  leaving  the  river 
the  rolling  hills  and  rocky  ridges  abound  in  minerals. 
From  the  door  of  their  two-roomed  log  cabin  could  be 
seen  variegated  nature ;  and  looking  northward  the  eye 
beholds  many  brooks  and  streamlets,  the. waters  of  which 
appear  to  be  as  transparent  as  crystal,  roaring,  spark- 
ling, and  foaming  as  they  rush  down  the  mountain  side, 
sinuous  in  their  course  through  hills  and  rocks  in  great 
haste  to  unite  with  the  foamy  spray  of  the  Yadkin,  along 
whose  banks  can  be  seen  huge  rocks  lifting  their  precip- 
itous heads  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  above  the  sur- 
rounding landscape,  careening  as  if  peeping  down  upon 
the  golden-finned  and  silver-sided   fish  that   are  accus- 


ioX3 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


tomed  to  throng  the  shoals  on  a  beautiful  springlike  day. 
Just  beyond  and  all  around,  if  in  midsummer,  our  eyes 
behold  meadows  green  and  waving  fields  of  wheat  cover- 
ing the  great  plains  that  stretch  away  toward  the  moun- 


B1SH0P    CHARLES    CALVIN    PELTEY,    A.M.,    D.D. 


tains  on  either  side,  with  here  and  there  a  huge  bowlder 
that  appears  to  have  fallen  from  Nature's  dump  cart  dur- 
ing that  dreary  epoch  when  icebergs  in  a  sweeping  ava- 
lanche carried  them  from  the  top  of  the  Blue  Ridge  tc 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       19/ 

the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  dropping  them  here  and  there 
in  confused  heaps.  Then  come  the  rolling  hills  with 
their  verdure  green,  which  rise  higher  and  higher  until 
their  lofty  buttes  .seem  to  kiss  the  vaulted  blue.  In  sum- 
mer they  appear  to  be  thunderheads ;  but  when  chilly 
Winter  cools  the  earth  with  his  icy  breath  and  shrouds 
these  buttes  in  snowy  white  the  landscape  can  be  better 
imagined  than  described  or  mocked  by  an  artist.  Farm- 
ing in  this  section  is  the  leading  industry.  Such  were 
the  surroundings  of  the  birthplace  of  Charles  Calvin  Pet- 
tey,  who  was  a  slave  until  his  sixteenth  year.  During 
this  period  he  served  in  the  capacity  of  house  boy  and 
farm  hand.  After  being  emancipated  he  conducted  his 
father's  farm  until  he  became  of  age.  He  learned  his 
alphabet  after  leaving  his  master,  and  so  great  was  his 
thirst  for  knoAvledge  that  he  never  went  to  the  gristmill 
or  paddled  a  solitary  person  over  the  river  without  hav- 
ing in  hand  his  pocket  companion,  namely,  Webster's 
blue  back  speller. 

The  first  contract  made  was  with  a  young  white  lady. 
She  was  to  instruct  him  in  his  speller  as  far  as  "  baker  " 
for  the  making  of  a  pair  of  shoes.  This  being  accom- 
plished, he  kept  on  and  on  until  he  could  read  and  write. 
Then  commenced  an  indefatigable  conquest  of  every 
book  to  be  found.  Hearing  of  Biddle  Institute,  at  Char- 
lotte, N.  C,  he  determined  to  wend  his  way  thither.  So 
after  working  hard  for  his  father  all  day  he  would  make 
baskets,  brooms,  and  shoes  by  pine  torches  at  night, 
catch  muskrats  for  their  hides,  and  sell  them.  At  last  he 
resorted  to  railroad  work.  In  a  few  years,  by  using  the 
closest  economy,  his  savings  amounted  to  $95 .45.    On  the 


I98  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

last  day  of  August,  1872,  lie  left  home  for  the  desired 
seat  of  learning,  wearing  a  pair  of  shoes  of  his  own  make 
and  a  suit  of  clothes  which  he  had  helped  his  mother  to 
spin.  On  the  following  day  he  entered  Biddle  Memorial 
Institute,  where  he  studied  for  seven  years,  paying  every 
cent  of  his  board  and  tuition  save  seventy-two  dollars 
given  him  by  the  North  Carolina  Conference  and  friends. 
While  in  college  he  assisted  a  brother  of  his  in  the  same 
institution  and  sent  a  niece  to  Scotia  Seminary.  During 
his  stay  at  Biddle  he  organized  a  literary  society,  which 
still  exists  as  the  most  important  literary  association  in  the 
now  Biddle  University.  He  won  the  respect  of  students 
and  professors  alike,  and  for  seven  long  years  was  never 
absent  at  roll  call  without  an  excuse.  On  the  5th  of 
June,  1878,  he  graduated  with  high  honors,  being  the 
Latin  salutatorian  of  his  class,  and  received  the  degree 
of  A.B. 

Having  been  converted  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he 
joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
-and  long  before  leaving  home  for  college  he  was  in  deed 
and  in  truth  his  own  father  and  mother's  class  leader, 
also  a  public  school  teacher.  He  was  licensed  to  exhort 
August  4,  1868,  by  Rev.  George  Frost,  at  Wilkesboro, 
N.  C.  ;  licensed  to  preach  by  Bishop  Hood,  August,  1872. 
On  December  1 1  of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  dea- 
con by  Bishop  Hood.  From  that  time  until  he  gradu- 
ated he  had  charge  of  country  circuits  in  the  vicinity  of 
Biddle  University.  His  summer  vacations  were  spent  in 
teaching.  By  this  means  he  made  his  way  through  col- 
lege, frequently  walking  fifty  miles  from  Friday  evening 
until  Monday  morning  in  order  to  fill  his  appointments. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.       1 99 

Immediately  after  graduating  he  was  elected  principal 
of  the  city  school  in  Charlotte,  N.  C,  which  position  he 
resigned  four  months  later,  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop 
J.  W.  Hood,  at  Chester,  S.  C,  and  sent  to  take  charge 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  at  Lan- 
caster Court  House,  S.  C.  While  there  he  founded  the 
"  Pettey  High  School,"  *  and  was  its  principal  for  three 
years  in  connection  with  his  church  work.  Many  of  his 
students,  of  whom  he  feels  justly  proud,  are  now  con- 
spicuous race  leaders.  Prominent  among  them  we  find 
the  Clintons,  Colberts,  and  the  present  principal  of  said 
school,  Professor  Douglass.  In  1880  he  was  elected  Re- 
cording Secretary  of  the  General  Conference,  in  Mont- 
gomery, Ala. ,  and  became  conspicuous  in  said  Conference 
because  of  the  active  part  he  took  in  its  proceedings. 
In  December,  1881,  he  was  transferred  to  the  East  Ala- 
bama Conference  and  appointed  by  Bishop  J.  P.  Thomp- 
son, M.D.,  D.D.,  to  the  charge  of  Clinton's  Chapel, 
better  known  as  the  "Old  Ship,"  Montgomery,  Ala., 
where  he  served  acceptably  for  three  years,  paid  off  its 
church  debts,  more  than  doubled  its  membership,  and  as 
an  evidence  of  his  value  to  them  as  pastor  they  paid  him 
one  hundred  dollars  per  month,  which  was  remarkable 
for  that  period.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  General 
Conference  which  convened  in  New  York,  May,  1884. 
Even  there  he  was  mentioned  as  a  candidate  for  the 
episcopacy  while  yet  under  thirty-five,  and  was  elected 
general  secretary.  When  the  connection  was  about  to 
lose  its  membership  and  property  in  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
he  of  his  own  free  will  and  accord  consented  to  leave 

*  Now  called  Lancaster  High  School. 
15 


200  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Montgomery,  and  went  to  Knoxville  without  the  hope  of 
a  dollar,  to  save  Zion  in  Tennessee.  While  there  he  was 
smitten  with  pneumonia,  came  near  losing  his  life,  but 
was  nursed  back  to  health  and  vigor  by  his  first  faithful 
wife.  He  resigned  his  pastorate,  and  was  unfit  for  fur- 
ther service  till  the  latter  part  of  1885,  when  he  was  as- 
signed to  Chattanooga,  Tenn.,  preparatory  to  going  to 
California.  During  his  stay  of  four  months  in  Chatta- 
nooga he  greatly  revived  the  church,  paid  off  all  debts 
and  trebled  its  membership,  then  exchanged  pulpits  with 
Rev.  A.  Walters,  of  San  Francisco.  While  in  California 
he  made  for  himself  and  the  connection  a  name  that  will 
not  soon  be  blotted  out.  For  two  years  he  was  pastor 
of  Stockton  Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  and  Presiding  Elder  of  California  and  Oregon. 

When  elected  to  the  bishopric  in  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
May,  1888,  he  was  presiding  elder  of  the  coast  and  gen- 
eral secretary  of  the  connection.  After  his  election  he 
was  assigned  to  the  Sixth  Episcopal  District,  embracing 
the  West  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  California 
Conferences.  Under  his  judicious  and  energetic  man- 
agement these  four  Conferences  have  enlarged  into  six. 
And  the  report  of  the  rapid  growth  and  spread  of  the 
Church  under  his  administration  was  very  encouraging 
to  the  last  General  Conference  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  where 
he  was  again,  by  the  special  request  of  his  several  Annual 
Conferences,  returned  to  the  Sixth  Episcopal  District. 
On  the  morning  of  September  19,  1889,  he  was  married 
to  his  second  wife,  Miss  Sarah  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  New 
Berne,  N.  C,  who  has  traveled  with  him  extensively  in 
the  United  States,  Mexico,  Great  Britain,  and  continental 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      201 

Europe.  He  has  occupied  some  of  the  most  noted  pulpits 
of  the  world.  In  July,  1890,  he  was  tendered  a  seat  upon 
the  rostrum  of  the  British  Wesleyan  Conference  which 
convened  at  Bristol,  England.  He  was  cordially  received 
by  Dr.  Parker  and  the  lamented  Spurgeon,  of  London. 
He  assisted  in  administering  sacrament  in  City  Road 
Chapel,  John  Wesley's  old  church,  and  had  the  distin- 
guished honor  of  preaching  the  Sabbath  school  anniver- 
sary sermon  at  London  Square  Chapel,  Cardiff,  Wales, 
where  he  completely  captivated  his  audience.  He  was 
right  royally  entertained  by  "His  Grace"  the  Lord 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  at  his  home,  "  Lambeth 
Palace,"  London.  He  was  frequently  complimented  with 
tickets  to  both  houses  of  Parliament.  As  an  educator  he 
has  done  yeoman  service  for  the  race ;  not  long  since  he 
founded  the  Jones  Institute  of  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  and 
served  as  its  first  president. 

As  a  preacher  and  pulpit  orator  he  stands  high.  About 
four  years  ago  his  alma  mater  conferred  the  degree  of 
A.M.  upon  him;  about  the  same  time  Livingstone  Col- 
lege gave  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  He  is  a  natural  born 
scientist,  well  versed  in  belles-lettres  and  classic  lore.  He 
is  an  original  thinker.  He  reads  men  and  things  at  sight. 
He  is  'a  true  specimen  of  fully  developed  manhood,  tall 
in  stature,  symmetrical  in  figure,  courteous  in  manner, 
pleasing  in  expression,  affable  and,  withal,  dignified  in 
appearance ;  a  most  devoted  husband  and  tender,  loving 
father.  He  presides  with  grace  and  ease  over  his  Con- 
ferences, and  preaches  with  a  wonderful  magnetism, 
never  failing  to  electrify  his  audience. — A  Sketch  of 
Bishop  Petteys  Life,  by  Mrs.  Sarah  E.  C.  Dudley  Pettey. 


202  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

BISHOP    C.    R.    HARRIS,    D.D. 

Bishop  Harris  is  the  youngest  of  a  family  that  have 
made  their  mark  in  the  various  fields  of  theology,  medi- 
cine, teaching,  and  technical  industry,  thus  representing 
an  unusual  degree  of  versatility  and  success.  He  was 
born  in  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  August  25,  1844.  His  father 
died  when  he  was  three  years  old,  and  at  six  years  of 
age  he,  with  the  rest  of  the  family,  was  taken  to  Chilli- 
cothe,  0.,  where  his  education  immediately  began.  His 
narrow  escape  from  drowning,  about  a  year  afterward, 
may  be  construed  as  a  special  manifestation  of  providen- 
tial care. 

In  1854  the  family  moved  to  Delaware,  O.,  and  in 
1857  to  Cleveland.  He  continued  attending  school  in 
Ohio  uninterruptedly  till  1861,  when  he  finished  the 
course  in  the  Cleveland  Central  High  School.  It  might 
be  here  remarked  that  while  Mr.  Harris  took  the  training 
of  the  superior  schools  of  Ohio  he  is  in  a  notable  degree 
a  self-taught  man .  His  life  has  been  an  unbroken  period 
of  rigid  study  and  steady  acquisition  from  books  and 
from  nature.  The  following  trio  of  dates  might  prob- 
ably be  termed  his  tripod  of  destiny,  namely :  1863,  when 
he  joined  the  American  Wesleyan  Church,  Cleveland,  O., 
Rev.  Adam  Crooks,  pastor;  1867,  when  he  joined  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Fayetteville, 
N.  C.  ;  and  1866,  when,  with  his  brother  Robert,  under 
commission  of  the  American  Missionary  Association,  he 
began  teaching  in  Fayetteville,  N.  C. 

The  first  date  and  its  occurrences  represent  his  affilia- 
tion with  Protestant  Christianity,  and  there  has  been  no 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       203 

truer  and  more  intelligent  representative  of  it  in  the 
land  among  the  colored  race.  The  second  date  and  its 
occurrences  represent  his  attachment  to  African  Metho- 
dism, in  which,  through  his  particular  branch,  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  he  became  a  licensed 
preacher  in  1872.  In  the  same  year  he  joined  the  North 
Carolina  Conference.  As  a  member  and  minister  in  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  his  labors  have 
been  legion  and  his  success  signal,  while  no  man  in  his 
denomination  has  commanded  a  wider  or  more  sincere 
appreciation.  The  third  date  and  its  occurrence  repre- 
sent his  connection  with  the  profession  of  teaching,  to 
which,  in  Fayetteville,  Charlotte,  and  Salisbury,  N.  C, 
he  gave  so  many  devoted  and  fruitful  years. 

Christianity,  African  Zion  Methodism,  teaching — these 
three  have  been  the  great  signboards  of  Bishop  Harris's 
destiny ;  these  have  engaged  his  best  and  most  arduous 
labors,  and  these  have  brought  to  him  not  only  greater 
and  more  fruitful  labors  but  constant  promotions  and 
enduring  honors. 

In  January,  1874,  he  was  ordained  a  deacon.  In  De- 
cember of  the  same  year  he  was  ordained  elder  in  Con- 
cord, N.  C.  The  reader  of  this  sketch  should  not  con- 
clude that  there  was  undue  haste  in  these  ministerial 
promotions,  for  Mr.  Harris  had  been  such  an  industrious 
and  successful  student  that  he  was  able  to  pass  with  dis- 
tinction all  the  examinations  leading  to  them.  He  had 
also  demonstrated  his  capacity  and  merit  by  his  success  in 
organizing  and  pushing  forward  church  work.  But  it 
would  be  proper  here  to  refer  to  that  pursuit  of  Mr.  Harris 
which  has  been  largely  coordinate  with,  if  not  antecedent 


204  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

to,  his  work  as  a  clergyman,  namely,  his  experience  as  a 
teacher.  In  this  capacity  he  doubtless  received  his  larg- 
est preparation  for  his  permanent  lifework  in  the  higher 
callings  of  the  Church.  For  a  number  of  years  in  Fay- 
etteville,  Charlotte,  and  Salisbury  he  was  a  favorite  in- 
structor, always  impressing  his  pupils  not  only  as  an  ex- 
ceedingly lovable  friend,  but  as  an  accurate  and  specially 
well-founded  teacher.  His  mind  was  not  only  healthy 
and  vigorous  by  reason  of  a  wide  range  of  information, 
but  his  daily  preparation  for  his  school  room  duties  gave 
him  the  mastery  of  the  subject  under  consideration  and 
reassured  his  pupils  of  something  fresh  and  entertaining 
at  every  recitation.  At  Fayette ville  he  was  assistant  to 
his  brother,  Robert,  founder  of  the  North  Carolina  State 
Colored  Normal  School,  and  now  of  honored  memory. 

In  1880,  at  the  General  Conference,  then  in  session  at 
Montgomery,  Ala. ,  Bishop  Harris  was  appointed  business 
manager  of  the  Star  of  Zion,  the  chief  connectional  jour- 
nal of  the  Church.  In  connection  with  the  editor,  Pro- 
fessor A.  S.  Richardson,  he  conducted  the  paper  with 
success,  but  in  consequence  of  added  duties  and  respon- 
sibilities he  resigned  his  position  in  1882  in  favor  of  the 
Rev.  J.  McH.  Farley,  of  Petersburg,  Va.  His  connec- 
tion with  the  educational  work  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  began  with  the  founding  of  Zion 
Wesley  Institute  (now  Livingstone  College)  at  Concord, 
N.  C,  in  1879,  and  from  that  time  till  he  was  elected  to 
the  bishopric  in  1888  he  was  a  leading  light  and  most 
trusted  factor  in  the  faculty  of  that  institution,  either  as 
principal  or  treasurer  and  business  manager.  Around 
him  as  about    no  one    else    centered  the   fortunes    and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       205 

hopes  of  the  larger  number  of  the  students,  and  to  the 
day  of  his  resignation  no  one  dared  forecast  the  future  of 
the  college  with  Professor  Harris  absent  from  the  pilot 
house.  But  this  varied  and  extended  experience  as  edu- 
cator, while  referred  to  heretofore  as  coordinate  with, 
was  more  truly  preparatory  to,  his  great  work  as  a  Chris- 
tian minister  and  bishop  in  the  Church  of  his  choice,  if  it 
might  not  be  considered  as  measurably  complementary  to 
it.  It  was  said  that  "all  roads  lead  to  Rome."  It  is 
seemingly  equally  true  that  Mr.  Harris's  entire  expe- 
rience seemed  to  have  been  only  on  converging  lines 
leading  up  to  deservedly  high  stations  in  the  Church. 
The  bishop  had  been  a  member  of  every  General  Con- 
ference of  his  Church  since  and  including  the  quadren- 
nial session  of  1876,  when  the  Conference  assembled  in 
Louisville,  Ky.  At  this  Conference  he  was  chosen  assist- 
ant to  the  general  secretary,  and  two  years  later,  in  the 
interim,  was  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Bishops  as  gen- 
eral secretary.  In  1880  he  was  elected  general  steward, 
and  as  such  held  all  the  moneys  and  valuable  administra- 
tive documents  of  the  Church,  thus  filling  both  offices  of 
general  secretary  and  general  steward  till  1884,  when 
these  offices  were  separated,  but  without  giving  entire 
satisfaction  to  the  Church.  It  should  be  observed  that 
this  partial  dissatisfaction  had  its  rise  very  largely  in  the 
fact  that  our  subject  had  executed  the  duties  of  the  com- 
bined office  with  such  extraordinary  proficiency.  Mr. 
Harris's  integrity,  diligence,  and  efficiency  continued  to 
commend  him  to  the  favor  and  recognition  of  the  Church 
till  1888,  at  the  regular  quadrennial  session  at  New 
Berne,  N.  C,  when  he  was  elected  and  consecrated  by 


206  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  General  Conference  as  bishop.  He  had  thus  by- 
rapid  but  safe  and  merited  strides  attained  the  highest 
honor  of  his  Church  and  received  its  bestowment  with 
universal  esteem  and  good  will. 

The  chief  characteristics  of  the  bishop's  style  are  lucid- 
ness,  elegance,  and  force,  always  choosing  apt  and  ex- 
pressive words  and  combining  them  according  to  the 
rules  of  grammar,  as  well  as  in  harmony  with  the  princi- 
ples of  the  best  English. 

Bishop  Harris  is  essentially  a  logician,  preferring  the  a 
priori  method  of  reasoning  and  always  leaving  his  argu- 
ments so  well  supported  that  there  remains  no  loophole 
for  a  would-be  antagonist  or  contestant.  In  fact,  his 
discussions  beam  with  such  a  flood  of  sincerity  that  one 
hesitates  to  take  issue  with  him  lest  the  opponent  should 
be  regarded  as  callous. 

The  bishop's  mind  is  systematic  and  well  poised.  As 
a  preacher  he  is  persuasive  and  forceful,  never  losing 
confidence  in  the  power  of  ''the  word."  As  a  Meth- 
odist he  is  strictly  orthodox,  and  believes  in  evangelical 
religion  pure  and  simple. 

We  now  come  to  the  broader  view  of  our  subject  as 
man,  friend,  and  husband.  One  only  need  look  into  his 
face  and  shake  his  hand  to  be  impressed  with  his  genial- 
ity and  good  spirit.  But  to  find  out  what  manner  of  man 
he  is  it  is  necessary  to  know  him  as  a  friend.  As  a  friend 
the  bishop  is  confiding,  but  not  to  a  fault ;  and  while  this 
confidence  remains  unshaken  he  may  be  counted  on  to  be 
absolutely  faithful.  As  a  husband  he  is  devoted  and 
constant,  always  displaying  most  commendable  zeal  for 
the  comfort  and  happiness  of  his  family. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       207 

This  sketch  would  be  incomplete  without  mentioning 
the  bishop's  lovable  and  highly  intelligent  wife.  Their 
marriage  took  place  on  the  17th  of  December,  1879,  and  a 
more  mutually  helpful  union  must  be  hard  to  find.  Mrs. 
Harris,  hardly  less  than  the  bishop  himself,  has  com- 
mended herself  to  the  favor  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  serving  for  several  years  as  ma- 
tron of  Livingstone  College,  and  secretary  of  the  Ladies' 
Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Church. 
She  is  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  all  the  bishop's  work, 
and  one  rarely  thinks  of  him  without  thinking  of  her. 
Fortunate  is  he  who  comes  under  their  roof  and  observes 
and  shares  the  joys  and  comforts  of  their  home. 

The  bishop's  worth  and  scholarship  have  not  escaped 
the  notice  of  competent  judges  outside  of  the  Church  and 
in  the  literary  world.  In  the  spring  of  1891  he  was  hon- 
ored by  Howard  University  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Divinity.  This  itself  would  be  sufficient  proof  of  distin- 
guished merit,  for  Howard  University  bestows  her  honors 
with  due  caution.  Withal  Bishop  Harris  is  a  rare  man  of 
rare  attainments,  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  with  a  future 
of  unbounded  success  and  still  larger  rewards  stretching 
out  before  him. 

BISHOP   I.    C.    CLINTON,    D.D. 

Bishop  Clinton  was  born  in  Lancaster,  S.  C,  on  the 
22d  of  May,  1830.  His  owner,  Irvin  Clinton,  although 
a  leading  lawyer,  did  not  debar  his  human  chattels  from 
the  privilege  of  gaining  knowledge  from  books.  He 
rather  took  delight  in  assisting  them  to  learn.  Hence 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  received  the  rudiments  of  an 


208 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


education  before  the  surrender.  He  was  the  trusted 
foreman  and  confidant  of  his  master  while  a  slave,  and 
continued  in  the  chief  management  of  his  business  after 
emancipation,  until  he  acquired  sufficient  property  of  his 
own  to  occupy  his  attention.  He  began  to  preach  before 
emancipation.     He  had  the  privilege  of  preaching  to  his 


BISHOP   I.   C    CLINTON,   D.D. 

people  in  the  afternoon  in  the  same  church  in  which  the 
white  people  worshiped.  He,  too,  taught  private  school 
on  his  former  master's  plantation  soon  after  the  war. 

In  1866  he  organized  the  Mount  Carmel  Church,  about 
eight  miles  from  Lancaster,  at  which  place  he  established 
a  public  school.    When  Bishop  J.J.  Clinton  went  to  South 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      209 

Carolina  to  organize  the  Conference  he  found  the  then 
preacher,  I.  C.  Clinton,  ready  to  take  hold  of  the  work. 
(He  regarded  Isom  Clinton  as  one  of  the  strongest  men 
he  had  met  in  the  South.)  He  received  holy  orders  at 
that  time  and  entered  upon  his  great  missionary  work. 
He  was  made  presiding  elder  in  1872,  and  continued  in 
office  until  he  was  elected  to  the  bishopric.  He  was 
Conference  steward  from  the  time  that  office  was  created 
until  the  district  steward  was  provided  for  in  1880.  He 
was  district  steward  until  that  office  was  abolished,  and 
in  1888  he  was  elected  general  steward,  which  office  he 
filled  until  he  was  set  apart  to  the  bishopric.  He  received 
the  honorary  degree  of  D.D.  from  Livingstone  College 
in  1887. 

At  the  General  Conference  in  1 892  he  was  elected  and 
consecrated  a  bishop.  He  was  for  four  years  the  treas- 
urer of  Lancaster  County  during  the  Republican  regime, 
and  when  Wade  Hampton  was  chosen  governor  he  com- 
plimented Clinton  by  retaining  him  in  office  for  several 
months,  when  not  another  Republican  treasurer  was  re- 
tained. He  has  obtained  a  large  store  of  scriptural 
knowledge,  and  is  a  very  able  preacher. — Extract  from 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Quarterly. 

BISHOP   A.    WALTERS,    D.D. 

Bishop  Walters  was  born  in  Bardstown,  Ky.  At  an 
early  age  he  manifested  deep  concern  about  spiritual 
things.  At  the  age  of  eight  he  became  a  pupil  under 
Mr.  Brown,  of  Wicklirle,  and  at  twelve  years  of  age  he 
joined  the  Church.  For  four  years  he  was  employed  in 
hotels  and  on  steamboats  at  and  about  Louisville,  Ky.   In 


2IO 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


1876  he  moved  to  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Here  lie  began  the 
study  of  theology  under  private  tutors.  In  1877  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Katie  Knox,  of  Indianapolis ;  was  licensed  to 
preach  May,  1877,  by  the  Quarterly  Conference  of  Black- 


BISHOP   A.    WALTERS,    D.D. 


ford  Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church; 
joined  the  Kentucky  Annual  Conference  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection  at  Indianapolis, 
September,  1878,  and  was  sent  from  that  Conference  to 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.       211 

Corydon,  Ky.  Here  he  was  very  successful  in  financial 
and  revival  work.  He  remained  in  this  appointment  two 
years.  He  was  ordained  a  deacon  at  St.  Louis  in  1879, 
and  was  appointed  to  Cloverport,  Ky.,  in  1880,  where 
he  remained  One  year.  In  1881  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Fifteenth  Street  Church,  Louisville.  His  spiritual  and 
financial  success  in  this  charge  surprised  his  most  san- 
guine friends  and  admirers.  In  1882  he  was  elected  sec- 
retary of  his  Conference  and  treasurer  of  Zion  s  Banner. 
In  1883  he  was  transferred  to  Stockton  Street  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 
This  church  is  the  finest  and  largest  Afro-American 
church  in  the  far  West.  Here  he  was  successful  in  three 
years  in  raising  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  lifting  a  mort- 
gage which  had  been  on  the  church  for  many  years.  His 
spiritual  success  with  this  charge  was  phenomenal.  In 
1886  he  was  transferred  to  the  Tennessee  Conference  and 
stationed  at  Chattanooga.  He  began  a  revival  on  the 
first  Sabbath  there  which  resulted  in  the  conversion  of 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  souls.  His  financial  suc- 
cess was  equally  as  great.  Sickness  prevented  him  from 
remaining  longer  than  one  year  in  this  charge,  and  he 
was  sent  from  Chattanooga  to  Knoxville.  Here  he  was 
crowned  with  his  usual  success,  both  spiritually  and  finan- 
cially. From  Knoxville  he  was  transferred  to  the  New 
York  Conference  and  stationed  at  mother  Zion  Church, 
New  York  city,  where  he  has  been  for  four  years.  In 
that  time  he  has  taken  in  nearly  seven  hundred  members, 
and  has  raised  over  thirty-two  thousand  dollars.  In 
April,  1 89 1,  the  degree  of  D.D.  was  conferred  upon  him 
by  Livingstone  College,  Salisbury,  N.  C.     The  honor  was 


2  12  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

a  merited  one.  In  1889,  through  the  kindness  of  the 
members  of  his  church  and  friends,  he  was  permitted  to 
travel  through  Europe,  Egypt,  and  the  Holy  Land. 
Bishop  Walters  is  intensely  a  race  man ;  he  never  lets 
an  opportunity  pass  without  saying  something  to  better 
the  condition  of  the  race.  At  Pittsburg  he  was  elected 
bishop  by  a  good  majority  during  the  General  Confer- 
ence, and  was  duly  consecrated  to  that  office. — From  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Quarterly. 


1 

AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       213 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CONFERENCES  AND  PERSONAL  SKETCHES. 

NEW  YORK  CONFERENCE. 

New  York  has  the  honor  of  the  first  Methodist  meet- 
ing held  in  this  country.  In  a  work  called  Lost  Chapters 
of  Early  Methodism  we  are  informed  that  Captain  Webb, 
with  a  few  others,  met  in  a  sail  loft  in  Shelby  Street,  at 
the  south  end  of  New  York  city,  in  1765.  The  John 
Street  Church  in  that  city  was  built  in  1769.  The  first 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  also  formed  in 
this  great  city.  Here  the  nucleus  of  Negro  Methodism 
was  first  formed  by  James  Varick  and  his  coadjutors. 
From  this  point  that  movement  started  which  has  re- 
sulted in  the  establishment  of  Negro  churches  in  every 
section  of  our  broad  land. 

The  preachers  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Connection  had  occasional  Conferences  as  early  as  1 8 1 2  ; 
but  the  first  regular  meeting  of  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence of  which  we  have  a  record  was  held  in  New  York 
city  June  21,  1821.  There  were  nineteen  preachers  at 
this  session.  Dr.  Phoebus,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  by  invitation,  presided,  and  Rev.  Joshua  Soule 
(afterward  bishop)  acted  as  secretary.  This  shows  the 
kindly  feeling  of  a  portion  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
ministers  toward  our  organization.  The  Rev.  Freeborn 
Garrettson,  the  first  presiding  elder  of  the  New  York  Dis- 


214  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

trict  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  visited  the  Con- 
ference and  gave  his  colored  brethren  words  of  cheer. 
At  the  Conference  which  assembled  in  1822  Bishop  James 
Varick  presided.  This  Conference  has  at  times  been 
pretty  large,  much  larger  than  it  is  at  present.  It  was 
the  only  Conference  organized  during  the  first  thirty 
years  of  the  history  of  the  Church.  It  continued  to  be 
the  largest  of  all  until  the  formation  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Conference,  which  took  and  still  holds  the  lead  of 
all  the  Conferences. 

In  1829  the  Philadelphia  Conference  was  set  off,  and 
at  later  periods  the  New  England,  Genesee,  and  New 
Jersey,  making  in  all  four  Conferences  set  off  by  the 
New  York  Conference.  Besides  this  the  Mission  Board  of 
the  New  York  Conference  furnished  the  means  and  the 
Conference  furnished  the  men  with  which  Bishop  Clin- 
ton carried  Zion's  banner  to  the  far  South  and  organized 
the  Louisiana  Conference.  Out  of  the  territory  origi- 
nally embraced  in  the  Louisiana  Conference  some  seven 
or  eight  Conferences  have  been  formed,  so  that  the  New 
York  Conference  may  truly  be  called  the  ' '  mother  of 
Conferences."  It  is  still  the  largest  of  the  Northern 
Conferences,  except  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  which 
was  made  larger  by  being  consolidated  with  what  was 
once  called  the  Southern  Conference.  This  Conference, 
in  the  early  history  of  the  Church,  exercised  a  very  large 
influence  in  the  legislative  body,  and  of  the  ninety-one 
delegates  at  the  General  Conference  in  i860  thirty-nine 
were  from  the  New  York  Conference.  It  has  furnished 
the  connection  nine  bishops,  as  follows:  James  Varick, 
Christopher  Rush,  William  Miller,  William  H.  Bishop, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       215 

G.  A.  Spywood,  John  Tappen,  James  Simmons,  Peter 
Ross,  Sampson  D.  Talbot.     The  present  roll  is  as  follows : 

Presiding  Bishop,  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elder,  M.  A.  Bradley. 

Elders,  Revs.  *  Jacob  Thomas,  D.D.,  T.  O.  R.  Williams, 
*Clinton  Leonard,  *W.  H.  Decker,  *Jephtha  Barcroft, 
Abram  Anderson,  T.  E.  G.  Thomas,  J.  R.  B.  Smith, 
R.  H.  Stitt,  G.  E.  Smith,  H.  S.  Hicks,  Floyd  Mills,  E.  S. 
Prime,  C.  E.  Waters,  W.  A.  H.  Pringle,  S.  F.  Dickson, 
W.  J.  Smith,  E.  G.  Clifton,  W.  T.  Carpenter,  E.  J.  Mil- 
ler, J.  H.  Jones,  George.  H.  Simmons,  Charles  H.  Ten- 
eycke,  C.  E.  Steward,  A.  J.  Talbot,  A.  M.  Walker,  W. 
H.  Abbott,  J.  S.  Caldwell,  Lewis  Williams,  *J.  H.  Smith. 

Deacons,  Revs.  P.  M.  Jackson,  J.  M.  Butler,  C.  W. 
Randall. 

Local  Deacons,  Revs.  William  Phillips,  E.  H.  Smith,  B. 
F.  Foy,  J.  H.  Steward. 

Vice  President  Ladies'  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Soci- 
ety, Mrs.  Alice  Stitt. 

Of  the  sixteen  ministers  now  living  who  were  members 
of  the  General  Conference  in  1864  six  are  members  of 
this  Conference.  Revs.  J.  Barcroft  and  C.  Leonard  are 
superannuated ;  Rev.  Peter  Coster  f  is  supernumerary. 
He  reminds  us  more  of  the  old  time  than  any  other  now 
living ;  he  is  wonderful  on  his  knees.  He  is  over  six  feet 
high,  broad  shouldered,  has  heavy  eyelashes  and  a  free, 
open  countenance.  He  is  a  very  acceptable  preacher  yet. 
The  other  three,  Revs.  W.  H.  Decker,  Jacob  Thomas, 
D.D.,   and  James  H.   Smith,   are  all  able  men.     Father 

*  Those  thus  marked  were  received  in  Conference  previous  to  1864. 
t  Died  since  above  was  written. 
16 


2l6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Decker,  as  he  is  now  called,  has  filled  all  the  important 
stations  in  this  Conference,  having  been  a.  member  of  it 
for  fifty  years.  We  know  of  no  other  man  of  the  race  who 
has  been  a  member  of  one  Conference  so  long.  Through 
all  of  these  years  he  has  maintained  a  good  character. 
Jacob  Thomas,  too,  has  been  a  long  time  a  member 
of  this  Conference,  and  has  probably  built  more  brick 
churches  than  any  other  man  in  the  connection.  J.  H. 
Smith  is.  the  ablest  preacher  of  the  lot,  and  has  done  good 
work.  The  break  made  in  his  record  by  his  going  to  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  some  years  ago  lost  him  the 
influence  and  the  place  he  would  have  otherwise  occupied 
in  the  history  of  the  Church.  There  are  a  number  of 
promising  young  men  in  the  Conference,  of  whom,  no 
doubt,  the  future  historian  will  have  something  to  say. 

MRS.    THOMPSON, 

The  Deceased  Wife  of  Right  Rev.  J.  P.    TJwmpson,   of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

The  late  Mrs.  Catherine  Thompson,  wife  of  the  Right 
Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  M.D.,  D.D.,  of  Newburg, 
N.  Y.,  was  born  February  7,  18 17,  at  North  Hampton, 
Lehigh  County,  Pa.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Simon  Cor- 
nelius and  Elizabeth  Gilchrist.  She  was  married  in  Wil- 
liamsport  on  November  16,  1841.  She  was  an  exceptional 
woman  in  many  respects — amiable,  pious,  devout.  She 
was  a  great  organizer,  and  had  wonderful  executive  abil- 
ity. Her  greatest  delight  was  in  the  Sunday  school  work. 
She  devoted  hours  of  earnest  thought  and  prayer  to  the 
most  effective  means  of  attracting  the  youthful  mind  to 
the  truths  of  the  Scriptures.      In  the  work  she  was  ear- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       21 J 


nest  and  persevering,  and  by  her  winning  manner  capti- 
vated the  hearts  of  the  children,  drew  them  together, 
and  her  labors  were  almost  always  bountifully  rewarded. 
In  Church  society  work  Mrs.  Thompson  occupied  the 
highest  place  among  her  sister  laborers ;  always  willing, 
always  ready,  no  sacrifice  seemed  too  great  for  her  to 
make  for  the  good  of  the 
cause.  She  was  long  hon- 
ored as  the  president  of 
the  Sons  and  Daughters 
of  Conference  of  her 
Church  (African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion),  and 
was  always  active  in  per- 
fecting plans  for  its  ad- 
vancement. The  Bible 
was  her  book  of  books, 
and  her  familiarity  with 
its  contents  was  as  re- 
markable as  her  many  fac- 
ulties. Indeed,  in  depth 
of  learning  she  ably  coped 
with  many  of  the  clergy  of  her  day.  She  was  a  valuable 
helpmate  to  her  husband,  and  many  long  hours  found 
them  together  discussing  intricate  scriptural  doctrines. 

During  the  dark  days  of  slavery  her  mind  was  riveted 
on  the  work  of  allaying  the  suffering  of  her  unfortunate 
fellow-creatures.  Many  clever  schemes  she  devised  in 
effecting  their  escape  from  bondage.  The  incidents  she 
and  the  bishop  have  related  have  been  most  thrilling  in 
detail.     The  last  official  place  Mrs.  Thompson  held  was 


MRS.   BISHOP   THOMPSON. 


218 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


as  treasurer  of  the  Ladies'  Home  and  Foreign  Mission- 
ary Society  of  the  connection.  She  died  March  4,  1893, 
leaving  her  life-partner  and  one  daughter,  Mary  A.  Als- 
dorf,  wife  of  Professor  D.  B.  Alsdorf,  and  three  grand- 
children to  mourn  her  loss. — From  "  Ringwood'  s  Journal." 

REV.    E.    G.    CLIFTON,    D.D. 

E.  G.  Clifton,  D.D.,  whose  portrait  is  herewith  given, 
was  born  in  the  city  of  Basse-Terre,  St.  Kitt's,  British 


REV.   E.   G.    CLIFTON,  D.D. 


West  Indies,  on  February  4,  1862.  He  was  educated  in 
the  schools  of  his  native  city  and  came  to  New  York  in 
1877.     There  he  attended  college,  his  eyes  failed,  and  he 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      219 

was  compelled  to  travel  South,  going  as  far  as  St.  Augus- 
tine, Fla.,  then  through  the  West  Indies  during  the 
winters  of  1881  and  1882.  He  visited  St.  John's,  New- 
foundland, and  studied  theology  at  the  Royal  Theological 
Seminary,  at  which  place  he  was  asked  to  go  to  Rome 
and  finish  his  studies,  after  which  he  was  to  work  for  the 
cause  in  that  Church.  He  did  not  go  to  Rome,  but  was 
ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  on  May 
19,  1889,  at  Troy,  N.  Y.  He  was  also  ordained  elder  by 
the  same  on  May  18,  1891,  at  Port  Chester,  N.  Y.  On 
May  15,  1893,  Grenada  University  conferred  the  merited 
degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity.  In  the  encyclopedia  of 
young  divines  the  Rev.  E.  G.  Clifton  stands  in  the  front 
rank.  He  is  very  active,  and  is  as  popular  in  social 
circles  as  in  the  field  of  Christian  labor.  On  August 
13,  1885,  he  was  married  by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Cowles  to 
Miss  Ida  Rogers,  of  New  York.  A  cultured  and  refined 
lady  is  Mrs.  Clifton.  She  is  a  great  help  to  her  husband, 
and  he  attributes  his  success  to  her  sound  judgment.  She 
visits  and  attends  all  the  services,  and  is  a  factor  in  Meth- 
odism of  this  century. 

REV.    MARK    ANTHONY    BRADLEY. 

Mark  Anthony  Bradley  was  born  in  Sussex  County, 
Del.,  June  20,  1847.  He  entered  the  United  States  serv- 
ice September  9,  1864  ;  was  assigned  to  the  Thirtieth 
United  States  Colored  Troops ;  mustered  out  September 
15,  1865.  He  was  converted  July,  1870,  in  Delaware,  and 
joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  there ;  moved  to 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  March  10,  1875,  and  united  with  the 
African    Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  that  city. 


220 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


Two  years  after  he  was  licensed  as  an  exhorter  by  Rev. 
George  H.  Washington,  pastor  of  the  church.  December 
6,  1 88 1 ,  he  was  licensed  as  a  local  preacher.  While  acting 
in  that  capacity  he  successfully  organized  a  church  at 
Derby,  Conn. ;  joined  the  Annual  Conference  held  in  the 


REV.    MARK    ANTHONY    BRADLEY. 


North  Russell  Street  Church,  Boston,  Mass.,  presided 
over  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  June  20,  1883.  During  this 
time  he  organized  a  church  at  Hamden,  Conn,  (now 
called  High  Wood),  with  four  members,  and  augmented 
the  number  to  thirty-five,  and  was  by  Bishop  Jones  ap- 
pointed pastor  in  charge.  Here  he  purchased  a  lot  and 
erected  a   church  edifice.      At  the  Annual  Conference 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.      22  1 

held  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  June,  1884,  he  was  reappointed 
to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Hamden  Church.  June  3, 
1885,  at  the  Conference  held  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  he 
was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Jones,  and  appointed  to 
Norwich,  Conn.,  where  he  purchased  and  paid  for  a 
church  edifice  worth  three  thousand  dollars,  reorganized 
the  church  with  five  members  and  took  in  forty  additional. 
He  was  reappointed  to  this  charge  by  Bishop  Hood,  at 
the  Conference  held  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  in  June, 
.1886.  At  the  Conference  at  Providence,  R.  I.,  June  8, 
1887,  presided  over  by  Bishop  Hood,  he  was  appointed  in 
charge  of  the  church  at  Attleboro,  Mass.,  where  he  re- 
modeled the  church  and  added  seven  to  the  membership ; 
remained  there  one  year.  On  June  13,  1888,  he  was  or- 
dained elder,  transferred  to  the  New  York  Conference, 
and  appointed  to  the  New  Rochelle  charge,  where  he 
erected  and  paid  for  a  parsonage  worth  one  thousand 
dollars,  and  added  twenty-five  to  the  membership.  At 
the  Conference  held  at  Troy,  N.  Y.\  May  15,  1889,  he 
was  appointed  in  charge  of  the  church  at  Port  Chester, 
N.  Y.  At  this  point  his  capabilities  as  a  builder  of 
churches  was  severely  taxed,  but  with  an  indomitable 
will  he  not  only  built  a  fine  church  edifice,  but  an  elegant 
parsonage  as  well.  He  remained  at  this  charge  four 
years,  during  which  period  he  raised  $13,725,  and  added 
forty  to  the  membership  of  the  church.  During  the  last 
year  of  his  pastorate  at  Port  Chester  he  was  appointed  to 
the  oversight  of  New  Rochelle,  and  there  purchased  a  lot 
worth  $1,200  and  built  a  church  thereon  costing  $2,500. 
He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
held  at  Pittsburg,   Pa.,   May  4,    1892.     At   the  Annual 


222 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


Conference  held  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  May  17,  1893,  he 
was  elected  Presiding  Elder  of  the  "Mother"  Confer- 
ence, New  York. 


REV.    J.    S.    CALDWELL,  A.M.,  B.D. 

This  popular  pastor  of  "Mother  Zion  "  we  regard  as 
among  the  most  promising  of  our  rising  men.     He  is 

level-headed  and 
well  balanced, 
brilliant  and  al- 
w  a  y  s  successful, 
and  yet  humble 
and  unassuming. 
Of  all  the  young 
men  at  the  last 
General  Confer- 
ence no  other  so 
fully  met  our  ideal. 
He  never  flew  off, 
but  was  always 
reasonable  and 
safe.  He  showed 
no  disposition  to 
aspire  for  position, 
but  gave  the  strongest  possible  evidence  that  his  whole 
desire  was  to  do  what  was  best  for  the  connection.  '  He 
was  born  in  Mecklenburg  County,  N.  C,  in  August, 
1 862 .  His  opportunities  for  an  early  education  amounted 
to  less  than  two  months  in  the  year ;  but  he  made  good 
use  of  his  time,  working  all  day  and  studying  at  night. 
He  was  converted  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  married  at  the 


REV.    J.    S.    CALDWELL,    A.M.,    B.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       223 

age  of  twenty,  entered  the  ministry  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  and  notwithstanding  the  care  of  a  family  he  entered 
Zion  Wesleyan  Institute  (now  Livingstone  College)  in 
1883,  completed  a  course  at  that  institution,  and  was 
graduated  in  1888. 

Before  going  to  New  York  he  had  charge  at  Elizabeth 
City,  N.  C,  where  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  church 
builder,  and  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  where  he  showed  that 
he  could  successfully  handle  a  large  debt.  He  joined 
the  Conference  in  1884,  was  ordained  deacon  in  1886, 
and  elder  in  1888.  While  at  school  he  had  charge  of 
work  near  the  college,  and  preached  while  he  was  getting 
his  education.  There  is  not  an  ungrateful  streak  in  his 
nature.     This  is  more  than  we  can  say  for  all  young  men. 

REV.    JACOB    THOMAS,    D.D. 

Rev.  Jacob  Thomas  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, Pa.,  December  20,  1823,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  with  the  exception  of  two  or  three  years 
of  private  instruction  by  Mr.  B.  Reeves,  a  Quaker  in 
whose  family  he  lived  a  number  of  years.  Some  portion 
of  his  early  life  was  spent  in  a  printing  office,  where  he 
learned  the  trade  of  printing  sheet  music.  He  came  to 
New  York  about  1 840,  and  embraced  religion  in  the  Af- 
rican Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  of  New  Rochelle. 
He  married  when  about  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Hav- 
ing joined  the  Church,  he  applied  himself  at  once  to  the 
study  of  theology  under  the  most  distinguished  ministers 
in  Zion  Church  at  that  time ;  he  was  licensed  as  a  local 
preacher  when  about  twenty-three  years  of  age.  He  con- 
tinued his  studies  and  assisted  the  circuit  preachers  until 


224 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 


he  joined  the  New  York  Conference,  in  1857;  he  was  or- 
dained deacon  by  Bishop  W.  H.  Bishop,  in  1859;  a  week 
later  he  was  ordained  elder  in  the  Sixth  Street  Church, 


REV.   JACOB   THOMAS,    D.D. 

New  York,  which  was  then  about  uniting  with  Zion  Con-, 
nection.  At  the  Conference  of  1867  he  was  elected 
Recording  Secretary  of  the  Conference,  which  honorable 
office  he  filled  for  eight  successive  years.  He  has  served 
the  following  churches :  White  Plains,  two  years ;  Pough- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       22$ 

keepsie,  six  years — two  terms ;  during  his  first  term  he, 
with  the  assistance  of  Abram  Bolin,  built  a  church  cost- 
ing $6,000.  He  was  then  appointed  to  Troy,  N.  Y., 
which  church  he  served  six  years  in  succession,  building 
a  church  and  parsonage  at  a  cost  of  $15,000,  and  in  the 
meantime  superintended  and  (with  the  assistance  of  Mrs. 
Amanda  Foster)  collected  funds  and  built  a  church  and 
parsonage  at  Tarrytown,  costing  $10,000.  Upon  leaving 
Troy,  in  1867,  he  -took  charge  of  this  church  at  Tarry- 
town,  serving  three  years.  In  1889,  after  serving  as  gen- 
eral book  agent  of  the  connection  for  ten  years,  the  church 
at  Tarrytown  requested  his  return,  which  was  granted  by 
Bishop  Hood,  and  he  served  until  1893,  about  seven  years 
in  all.  In  1870  he  was  sent  to  take  charge  of  the  church 
at  Newburg,  which  he  enlarged  and  remodeled  at  an 
expense  of  $2,000 ;  at  the  end  of  the  year  the  trustees  of 
Zion  Church,  New  York  city,  requested  Bishop  Clinton 
to  appoint  him  over  that  church,  to  which  request  the 
bishop  acceded ;  he  was  therefore  compelled  to  leave 
Newburg  at  the  expiration  of  one  year.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  New  York  church  in  1871,  remaining 
there  four  years,  during  which  time  he  urged  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Old  Folks'  Home,  and  saw  it  in  operation 
before  his  time  expired.  Dr.  Thomas  was  also  a  prime 
mover  in  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of 
Bishop  Christopher  Rush.  He  was  next  appointed  to 
the  church  at  Williamsburg,  which  he  served  four  years, 
during  which  time  he  remodeled  the  church  at  a  cost  of 
$1,000.  He  was  then  given  charge  of  the  Harlem 
church,  serving  there  four  years.  On  leaving  this  charge 
he  devoted  his  whole  time  to  the  duties  of  the  Book  Con- 


226  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

cern.  In  1889  the  Livingstone  College  of  Salisbury, 
N.  C,  in  recognition  of  faithful  services,  honored  him 
with  the  degree  of  D.D. 

PHILADELPHIA  ANNUAL  CONFERENCE. 

The  Philadelphia  Conference  was  organized  May  25, 
1829,  Bishop  Christopher  Rush  presiding.  There  were 
seventeen  preachers  present,  including  three  from  the 
New  York  Conference.  This  Conference  originally  in- 
cluded about  half  of  New  Jersey  and  the  whole  of  Penn- 
sylvania; in  1837  its  bounds  were  extended  to  include 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  in  1844  Baltimore  was  added. 
The  western  part  of  Pennsylvania  was  taken  from  this 
Conference  in  1849  to  form  the  Allegheny  Conference, 
and  in  making  up  the  Genesee  Conference  a  few  counties 
in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State  were  taken  off  of 
the  Philadelphia  Conference.  This  Conference  was  also 
weakened  at  a  little  later  period  by  the  formation  of  the 
Southern  Conference,  afterward  called  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference, so  that  in  1864  it  was  the  smallest  Conference 
in  the  connection  excepting  the  Southern  Conference. 
In  1872,  however,  it  and  the  Southern  (or  Baltimore) 
Conference  were  consolidated,  and  it  is  now  known  as 
the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  and  is  the  largest  of  the 
Northern  Conferences.  This  Conference  has  furnished 
bishops  as  follows :  J.  J.  Clinton,  S.  T.  Scott,  J.  D.  Brooks, 
and  J.  J.  Moore.     The  present  roll  is  as  follows: 

Bishop,  C.  R.  Harris,  D.D. 

Elders,  Revs.  George  Bosely,  R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  D.D., 
S.  S.  Wales,  C.  E.  Pepkins,  J.  W.  Davis,  W.  H.  Day, 
D.D.,  M.  M.  Bell,  J.  E.  Price,  P.  E.,  J.  B.  Small,  D.D., 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       227 

J.  H.  Anderson,  R.  J.  Daniels,  P.  E.,  J.  S.  Cowles,  L.  G. 
Mitchel,  I.  R.  Johnson,  W.  H.  Wright,  J.  H.  Hector,  J. 
W.  Martin,  J.  W.  Smith,  Charles  Roles,  S.  T.  B.  Grace, 
J.  W.  Fairfax,  G.  W.  Offley,  D.D.,  T.  H.  Scott,  J.  T. 
Tilman,  Logan  Johnson,  C.  H.  Wye,  A.  J.  Spencer,  F.  H. 
Norton,  Z.  T.  Brown,  M.  J.  Snow,  Henderson  Butler, 
G.  G.  McFarland,  J.  F.  Page,  P.  C.  Lewis,  M.D.,  J.  W. 
Ruff,  J.  C.  Turner,  W.  H.  Tilman,  J.  W.  Hall,  N.  B. 
Bell,  G.  W.  Kincade,  Milton  H.  Commile,  A.  C.  Wash- 
ington, S.  L.  Mills,  J.  H.  Williams,  J.  L.  S.  Huff,  G.  W. 
A.  Talbot,  J.  C.  Brown,  James  Stokes. 

Deacons,  Revs.  J.  S.  Johnson,  J.  H.  Mason,  William  H. 
Johnson,  S.  R.  Summerville,  J.  D.  Adams,  W.  H.  Cook, 
W.  J.  E.  Roley,  R.  J.  Lisby,  D.  F.  Bradly,  J.  E.  Williams, 
C.  H.  Hunter,  W.  W.  Turner,  William  Johnson,  Franklin 
Pierce,  J.  E.  Nichols,  J.  H.  Brooks. 

Preacher,  W.  L.  Wilson. 

Local  Elder,  Rev.  Charles  Dingle. 

Local  Deacons,  Revs.  Lloyd  Watts,  Benjamin  Jones,  B. 
H.  Freeman,  Stephen  H.  Stanford,  Basil  Chase,  W.  Saw- 
yer, George  Tucker,  W.  L.  Wilson,  George  L.  Webb, 
Joseph  Dent. 

Vice  President  Woman  s  Home  Missionary  Society,  Mrs. 
Rev.  J.  P.  Hamer. 

REV.    ROBERT   HENRY    GARLAND    DYSON,    D.D. 

Robert  Henry  Garland  Dyson  was  born  in  Washington 
City,  D.  C,  in  1832.  His  parents  were  born  slaves; 
but  his  mother,  being  a  favorite  of  her  old  mistress, 
was  set  free  before  her  marriage,  that  her  children  might 
be  free,  the  child  following  the  condition  of  the  mother. 


228 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


His  mother  was  married  at  sixteen ;  at  twenty  she  was 
left  a  widow  with  four  children — Peter,  John,  Elizabeth, 
and  Robert,  who  was  only  six  weeks  old  when  his  father 
died. 

There  were  but  two  schools  for  colored  people  in  Wash- 
ington at  that  time,  and  they  were  private  schools.     As 


REV.    R.    H.    G.    DYSON,    D.   D. 


the  Widow  Dyson  did  not  feel  able  to  undertake  the  edu- 
cation of  all  her  children  she  thought  it  best  to  spend  her 
efforts  on  her  daughter.  Robert,  when  about  eight  years 
old,  seeing  that  his  mother  had  to  work  out  all  day  and 
then  come  home  and  work  till  late  in  the  night,  some- 
times nearly  all  night,  begged  her  to  let  him  go  out  to 
work.  Soon  after  that  he  was  hired  out  to  a  gentleman 
for  five  dollars  a  month,  which  was  raised  to  eight  at  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      229 

end  of  the  first  month.  He  had  the  opportunity  to  attend 
Sabbath  school  only,  which  he  attended  at  Ebenezer 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  until  some  trouble  in  that 
church  caused  about  one  hundred  members  to  come  out 
and  form  the  Wesley  Zion  Church.  A  Sabbath  school 
was  then  formed,  and  young  Dyson's  name  was  first  on 
the  list.  The  instruction  he  received  in  Sabbath  school 
was  the  whole  of  his  scholastic  training. 

When  about  twenty  years  of  age  he  organized  a  choir 
in  John  Wesley  Church,  Connecticut  Avenue,  while  that 
congregation  was  still  worshiping  at  the  private  residence 
of  the  late  Rev.  John  Brent,  where  the  church  was  organ- 
ized. He  gave  the  first  thousand  bricks  for  the  church 
on  its  present  site.  He  was  early  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  giving  his  heart  to  God,  but  had  rested  in 
the  outward  law  until  November,  1852.  At  this  time  a 
revival  was  going  on  at  Wesley  Zion,  and  Dyson  was  im- 
pressed to  leave  his  choir  in  charge  of  his  assistant  and 
go  down  to  Wesley  Zion.  He  was  deeply  interested  in 
the  service  from  its  commencement,  and  before  the  meet- 
ing closed  he  had  passed  from  death  unto  life.  This  was 
the  second  Sunday  in  November.  On  the  following  Sun- 
day, at  eleven  o'clock,  he  joined  John  Wesley  Church. 
Three  months  later  he  was  appointed  leader  of  the  Young 
People's  Meeting,  and  was  also  elected  superintendent  of 
the  Sabbath  school.  At  the  end  of  six  months  he  was 
received  in  full  connection,  and  the  same  week  was  made 
class  leader.  In  September,  1857,  ne  was  licensed  to 
exhort,  and  at  the  next  Quarterly  Conference  he  received 
a  local  preacher's  license.  In  April,  1858,  he  was  rec- 
ommended  to    the    Annual  Conference,    which   met   in 


23O  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Philadelphia,  was  received  on  trial,  and  was  appointed 
to  the  Washington  City  Mission.  He  organized  Galbreth 
Chapel  in  a  small  room  with  three  members,  but  soon 
had  to  get  a  larger  place.  He  secured  a  lot  and  erected 
a  church,  which  was  dedicated  in  March,  1862,  and  390 
members  were  enrolled. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Conference  that  year  the  Union 
Wesley  Church  on  Twenty-third  Street  was  reported  to 
be  $6,000  in  debt  and  likely  to  be  sold ;  they  were  allowed 
less  than  one  year  to  meet  the  obligation.  The  delegate 
asked  for  Dyson,  and  he  was  sent.  Not  only  had  he  the 
debt  of  $6,000  to  meet,  but  they  were  worshiping  in  the 
basement-,  and  the  main  audience  room  was  simply  in- 
closed. The  debt  was  cared  for,  money  raised,  and  the 
church  finished  and  dedicated  on  Christmas  Day,  1863. 
He  remained  in  this  charge  two  years. 

Rev.  Joseph  Hicks,  who  was  stationed  at  Richmond, 
died  suddenly,  and  Dyson  was  sent  to  that  point.  The 
mistake  made  by  Bishop  Brooks  when  he  went  to  Rich- 
mond to  plant  Zion  seems  to  have  made  our  efforts  at 
that  point  hopeless,  and  even  Dyson  was  unable  to  res- 
urrect the  opportunity  which  Brooks  had  buried. 

In  1866,  at  the  request  of  the  church,  he  was  sent  to 
South  Howard  Street,  Baltimore.  He  did  not  have  his 
usual  success  here,  and  brethren  who  regarded  him  as 
the  bishop's  pet  criticised  him  for  leaving  that  church 
and  accepting  an  appointment  at  Hartford,  as  the  church 
in  Baltimore  was  lost  soon  after  he  left  it.  The  financial 
condition  of  that  church  was  such  that  it  is  not  likely  that 
it  could  have  been  saved  by  any  means  within  our  reach 
at  that  time.     We  see  no  reason  to  blame  Dyson   for 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      23 1 

accepting  the  appointment  at  Hartford.  The  "  pets"  of 
sensible  bishops  are  the  men  upon  whom  they  can  depend, 
in  great  emergencies.  The  church  at  Hartford  was  in 
bad  condition,  and  Bishop  Talbot  wanted  a  man  of  spe- 
cial ability;  he  had  a  very  high  opinion  of  Dyson,  and 
therefore  transferred  him  to  that  work.  Dyson's  four 
successful  years  in  that  charge  proved  that  the  bishop 
had  not  mistaken  his  man.  If  these  men  who  whine 
because  somebody  else  is  preferred  before  them  would 
study  how  to  be  useful  and  make  themselves  indispensa- 
ble necessities  they  would  soon  find  themselves  added  to 
the  list  of  the  bishop's  "  pets." 

While  Dyson  was  stationed  at  Hartford  he  organized  a 
mission  at  Windsor,  Conn.,  with  sixty-five  members,  and 
one  at  Plainville  with  forty-five,  both  of  which  were  per- 
mitted to  go  down  under  his  successor.  He  went  from 
Hartford  to  Providence,  where  he  remained  four  years. 
While  here  he  organized  the  church  at  Attleboro,  which 
is  now  a  good  station.  From  Providence  he  went  to 
Boston,  remaining  five  years,  and  organizing  the  church 
in  Cambridge,  Mass.,  now  a  fine  charge.  His  next  ap- 
pointment was  at  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  while  here  he 
organized  the  church  at  Derby,  Conn.,  which  bids  fair 
to  become  one  of  the  best  appointments  in  the  New 
England  Conference. 

At  the  end  of  one  year,  against  the  wish  of  the  church, 
Bishop  Moore  transferred  him  to  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence and  appointed  him  to  Old  Zion  Church.  This  is 
supposed  to  be  the  great  objective  point,  but  there  are 
many  charges  in  which  a  minister  can  do  quite  as  much 
for  the  Master,  with  less  labor,  and  possibly  with  more 

17 


232  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

satisfaction.  Dyson  did  well  there,  but  we  venture  to  say 
that  it  was  neither  the  most  pleasant  nor  the  most  profit- 
able of  his  several  charges.  He  remained  three  years, 
and  was  petitioned  for  for  the  fourth  year,  but  the  bishops 
believed  that  a  change  would  be  better.  We  say  bishops, 
for  the  presiding  bishop  was  so  much  exercised  over  it 
that  he  consulted  his  colleagues.  Dyson  was  then  sent 
to  John  Wesley,  Washington  City,  which  church  had  long 
wanted  him.  The  study  was  damp,  and  he  took  rheuma- 
tism ;  he  therefore  asked  for  a  change  at  the  end  of  one 
year.  The  church  had  not  boomed  as  was  expected,  and 
hence  the  congregation  raised  no  serious  objection  to  his 
leaving.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  Lord  disappoints  us 
sometimes  lest  we  should  become  worshipers  of  men. 

Dyson  was  next  appointed  to  Wesley  Zion  Church, 
South  Washington,  where  he  did  the  best  work  of  his 
life ;  possibly  we  ought  to  except  the  first  four  years,  in 
which  he  built  up  a  flourishing  church,  starting  with 
nothing.  His  appointment  to  Wesley  Zion  was  unex- 
pected to  him,  as  also  to  the  people.  It  was  an  alternative 
on  the  part  of  the  bishop ;  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
nominate  Dyson  for  presiding  elder  or  give  him  this 
charge.  Dyson  was  unwilling  to  take  the  presiding 
eldership,  and  was  rather  inclined  to  take  a  transfer,  but 
he  made  no  objection  when  he  heard  his  appointment. 
He  found  the  church  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  but  made 
it  one  of  the  finest  in  the  connection.  He  remained  six 
years  in  this  charge,  in  the  church  in  which  he  was 
converted  and  in  the  Sabbath  school  of  which  he  was 
the  first  scholar  enrolled.  He  is  now  serving  his  second 
year  in   Galbreth  Church,  the  successor  of  the  original 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       233 

Galbreth  Chapel,  organized  by  himself  about  thirty-four 
years  ago. 

Dyson  is  one  of  about  a  dozen  elders  who  have  come 
down  from  the  second  of  the  three  periods  into  which  we 
have  divided  the  history  of  the  Church.  He  is  the  only 
one  of  them  in  active  service  in  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference.  Rev.  George  Bosley  belongs  to 
the  number,  but  he  is  not  now  at  work  in  that  Conference. 
Of  the  number  of  that  class  who  remain,  whom  I  have 
referred  to  as  coming  down  from  the  second  period,  or 
who  were  elders  prior  to  1864,  Dyson,  Wilbur  G.  Strong, 
Jehu  Holliday,  Jacob  Thomas,  and  W.  H.  Decker  have 
distinguished  themselves  as  pastors,  organizers,  and 
church  builders.  They  have  all  done  well,  and  deserve 
to  have  honorable  mention  while  time  shall  last.  If 
Dyson  had  gone  South  instead  of  East  in  1868  he  could 
hardly  have  escaped  the  bishopric.  He  received  the 
honorary  degree  of  D.D.  from  Livingstone  College  in 
1 89 1.  He  has  frequently  been  a  delegate  to  General 
Conference. 

REV.    J.    B.    SMALL,    A.M.,    D.D. 

John  Bryan  was  the  only  child  of  John  Bryan  Small,  but 
not  of  Kittie  Ann,  his  mother.  John  is  from  a  long  range 
of  ancestry  whose  progeny  can  be  traced  as  far  as  about 
1720,  according  to  record,  and  prominent  relations  still  ex- 
ist in  St.  Joseph's  Parish,  Barbadoes,  British  West  Indies. 

John  was  born  on  the  14th  day  of  March,  1845,  at  Fra- 
zer,  St.  Joseph's  Parish;  his  mother  died  in  1853,  when 
he  was  eight  years  of  age,  and,  as  the  boy  was  a  favorite 
in  his  family  for  brightness,   modesty,  and  candor,   his 


2  34 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


father  sought  to  give  him  the  best  advantages  possible. 
He  received  home  instruction  from  a  half-sister.  Mr.  J. 
W.  Hewett  was  his  first  public  instructor,  and  by  recom- 
mendation of  Bishop  Parry,  of  the  Established  Church  of 
England,  he  was  sent  to  St.  John's  Lodge,  where  in  four 

years  he  complet- 
ed its  curriculum, 
graduating  at  the 
head  of  his  class 
of  fifty-six  (white 
and  colored) 
young  men,  de- 
livering the  vale- 
dictory address ; 
and  the  following 
four  years  were 
spent  in  Codring- 
ton  College,  on 
the  island  of  his 
birth,  carrying 
with  him  first 
honor,  favorable 
prophecy,  and  kindest  wishes  of  his  instructors  and 
acquaintances. 

In  1862,  at  his  request,  his  father  sent  him  to  visit 
Jamaica  and  other  islands,  and  thence  to  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa,  where  he  spent  three  years  and  three  months, 
and  while  there  learned  to  speak  the  Fantee  language, 
and  was  present  when  England  crowned  Quakuduo  king 
of  the  Fantees.  During  his  residence  in  Africa  he  vis- 
ited and  spent  his  time  in  observing  the  customs,  lan- 


REV.    J.    B.    SMALL,    A.M.,    D.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      235 

guage,  etc.,  at  Sierra  Leone,  Cape  Coast,  Elmena,  Dix 
Cove,  Accra  Lagos,  Badagry,  Bathurst,  Gambia,  Fort 
Bullin,  etc.  On  his  return  from  Africa  he  spent  five  years 
in  Balize,  British  Honduras,  where  he  was  engaged  as 
orderly  room  clerk,  and  finally  became  her  majesty's  chief 
clerk  of  the  brigade  office. 

Mr.  Small's  father  was  a  strong  Episcopalian  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  of  England,  and  so  educated  his  son  for 
its  ministry ;  but  while  in  Honduras  he  professed  a  hope 
in  Christ  and  joined  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  of 
that  place,  and  finally  its  ministry.  In  1 867  Mr.  Small 
sent  to  his  alma  mater  two  documents,  namely,  "Greek 
Elements  of  Syllabication,  Accent,  and  Punctuation," 
with  an  "Exegesis  of  Acts  V,"  in  the  original,  and  in  the 
following  year  received  the  degree  of  A.M. 

On  his  way  to  England  Mr.  Small  came  to  the  United 
States  in  1871,  and,  being  induced  by  Rev.  R.  H.  G. 
Dyson  and  the  late  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  D.D.,  united 
with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  two 
weeks  after  his  arrival.  He  served  many  charges  in  the 
New  England  Conference,  and  was  secretary  of  that  Con- 
ference from  the  time  he  met  it  until  he  was  transferred. 
He  served  eight  years  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference, 
where  he  filled  very  important  appointments,  and  re- 
signed from  the  presiding  elder's  office  after  a  year  to 
avoid  undue  exposure  of  health. 

The  Star  of  Zion  of  June  2,  1887,  contained  the  follow- 
ing :  ' '  Trustees  of  Livingstone  College  have  voted  the 
degree  of  D.D.  be  conferred  on  the  following  well-known 
ministers:  Revs.  J.  B.  Small,  R.  R.  Morris,  I.  C.  Clinton, 
and  Professor  William  Howard  Day."      Dr.  Small  has 


236  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE      . 

won  the  name  of  a  Christian  gentleman,  is  a  brilliant 
penman,  an  accomplished  poet,  and  reads  several  lan- 
guages. 

REV.    G.    W.    OFFLEY,    D.D. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  notable  and  noteworthy  ex- 
amples of  what  perseverance  and  indomitable  will-power 
can  accomplish,  when  coupled  with  natural  ability,  is 
clearly  shown  in  the  career  of  the  subject  of  this  brief 
sketch,  Rev.  G.  W.  Ofney,  D.D.,  present  pastor  of 
Wesley  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  who 
was  born  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1848.  He  attended 
school  in  both  Hartford  and  New  York  until  about  twelve 
years  of  age,  when  he  was  bereft  of  a  fond  mother.  At 
sixteen  years  of  age  he  entered  the  United  States  Navy, 
and  served  with  much  credit  for  three  years.  In  1867 
he  returned  to  school  and  attended  a  private  institution 
at  New  Bedford,  Mass.  The  oppressive  nature  of  the 
condition  of  affairs  at  this  time  perhaps  stimulated  young 
OffLey  to  greater  efforts,  and  he,  regarding  the  peculiar 
condition  of  his  people  at  that  time,  which  was  deplor- 
able, was  among  the  first  pioneer  teachers  who  went 
South  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  the  ' '  torch  of  enlight- 
enment." His  first  experience  was  in  1869,  at  Wilming- 
ton, N.  C,  which  was  at  a  time  when  it  "tried  men's 
souls,"  during  the  reconstruction  era.  Together  with 
other  things  that  made  his  stay  in  this  section  endurable 
was  perhaps  his  meeting  and  final  marriage  to  Miss 
Lizzie  Richardson. 

The  year  1870  found  him  at  Mullin's  Depot,  S.  C, 
where  he  remained  for  several  years,  holding  many 
prominent  positions  of  trust  as  well  as  honor.     For  more 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      237 

than  a  year  he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  School 
Examiners.  In  1871-72  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Scott  as  auditor  of  Marion  County,  and  in  1874  was  ele- 
vated as  a  trial  justice  by  Governor  Chamberlain,  and 
was  once  elected  as  warden  and  twice  nominated  to  the 
Legislature  from  the  same  county.  He  was  a  supervisor 
of  election  for  the  presidential  campaign  of  1876,  and 
also  stumped  the  county.  He  had  the  proud  distinction 
of  nominating  Hon.  J.  H.  Rainey  for  the  last  time  to 
the  United  States  Congress.  Possibly  few,  if  any,  had 
narrower  escapes  from  death  than  our  subject  while  on 
the  stump  during  the  campaign  of  1876.  During  these 
many  hairbreadth  escapes  he  was  converted  to  God,  in  the 
fall  of  1876.  In  the  Church  he  has  proven  himself  equally 
as  earnest  a  worker  and  defender  of  his  race  as  on  the 
stump.  After  one  year  he  entered  the  ministry  as  an 
itinerant  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in  which  he  held  some 
most  important  charges,  which  are  as  follows:  One  year 
on  the  Shaw  Branch  Circuit ;  three  years  at  Durham,  at 
which  place  he  built  a  most  handsome  church,  and  two 
years  at  New  Berne.  He  has  proven  a  success  in  each 
of  the  charges  held  by  him,  and  was  much  beloved  by  the 
people  whom  he  served.  In  1884  he  joined  the  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  the  denomination  in  which  he  was 
reared  from  childhood,  and,  as  he  frequently  puts  it,  ' '  of 
which  every  living  relative  is  a  member." 

In  this  Conference  he  has  been  given  some  of  the  most 
important  and  responsible  charges  in  the  connection. 
He  was  pastor  at  York,  Pa.,  three  years,  Harrisburg  one 


238  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

year,  and  is  at  present  serving  the  fourth  year  *  at  what 
is  known  as  "  Big  Wesley,"  this  city,  located  at  Fifteenth 
and  Lombard  Streets,  where  he  has  been  very  successful 
in  bringing  many  souls  to  Christ.  His  work  and  in- 
fluence exerted  since  his  pastorate  at  Zion  Wesley  has 
been  most  pronounced,  over  four  hundred  persons  having 
connected  themselves  with  the  Church,  and  there  has 
been  almost  a  continuous  revival.  Scarcely  a  month 
passes  without  some  one  confessing  Christ.  He  is  so 
well  beloved  by  his  congregation,  both  members  and 
friends  of  the  church,  that  there  is  a  movement  in 
progress,  we  understand,  inaugurated  by  many  not  even 
members  of  his  church,  to  ask  for  his  return.  As  a 
preacher  Rev.  Offley  is  most  impressive  and  forcible  and 
fully  imbued  with  a  deep  spiritual  insight,  and  possesses 
all  the  essential  qualities  of  a  scholar  and  a  preacher. 
The  Board  of  Trustees  of  Livingstone  College  at  a  meet- 
ing in  1 89 1  conferred  the.  degree  of  D.D.  upon  Rev. 
Offley. — From  the  "Weekly  Standard  Echo,'"  Philadelphia. 

REV.    JAMES    HARVEY    ANDERSON. 

James  Harvey  Anderson  was  born  in  Frederick  City, 
Md.,  June  30,  1848.  His  widowed  mother,  unable  to 
support  her  large  family,  put  James  out  at  seven  years 
of  age  to  work  for  his  food  and  clothes  during  his 
minority.  The  white  people  by  whom  he  was  thus  em- 
ployed treated  him  so  cruelly  that  he  ran  away  when  he 
was  about  fourteen,  and  as  there  were  no  papers  drawn 
his  mother  was  the  successful  defendant  in  the  suit  en- 
tered for  his  recovery.  In  1862  the  Thirteenth  New 
*He  is  at  this  time  serving  his  sixth  year. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       239 


Jersey  Regiment  passed  through  Frederick  City,  and 
James  hired  himself  as  servant  to  Lieutenant  H.  Wells. 
This  officer,  being  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Chancellorsville,  was  dismissed,  and  returning  home 
took  James  with  him.  Here  for  a  short  time  he  at- 
tended school,  and  made  rapid  advancement  in  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  English  education.  He  was  converted 
March  4,  1870,  licensed  to 
preach  February  2,  1871, 
joined  the  New  York  Con- 
ference May,  1872,  was  or- 
dained deacon  1874,  and 
elder  1876.  He  has  filled 
several  important  stations 
in  the  New  York,  New 
England,  and  the  Philadel- 
phia and  Baltimore  Con- 
ferences. 

During  his  pastorate  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  he  was 
instrumental  in  securing 
the  repeal  by  the  Legislature  of  the  obnoxious  marriage 
laws  of  that  State.  His  speech  before  the  committee 
who  had  charge  of  the  bill  was  a  masterly  effort.  In- 
deed, this  was  the  first  thing  that  brought  him  to  the 
writer's  notice.  He  led  the  political  revolt  in  Rhode 
Island  in  1882,  which  nominated  Sprague  for  governor 
upon  the  Independent  Republican  ticket.  He  was  the 
first  colored  man  who  received  the  nomination  as  a  candi- 
date for  the  State  Legislature.  He  declined  in  favor  of 
Joseph  H.   Banks,  who  was  elected.     He  has  served  as 


KEV.   J.    H.    ANDERSON. 


24O  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

secretary  in  each  of  the  three  Conferences  to  which  he 
has  belonged,  and  as  compiler  of  the  Minutes  in  the  lat- 
ter two.  He  was  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference in  1884,  1888,  and  1892.  He  is  the  author  of 
Class  Leaders'  Record,  which  received  the  indorsement  of 
the  last  General  Conference.  He  is  now  in  charge  of  the 
Church  at  Harrisburg.  Through  all  his  years  in  the 
ministry  he  has  been  a  hard  student.  He  is  a  fine 
orator  and  a  very  popular  preacher. 

REV.    J.    W.    SMITH. 

J.  W-.  Smith  was  born  in  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  January 
27,  1862,  and  was  reared  by  his  grandmother,  who  took 
charge  of  him  at  his  mother's  death,  he  being  then  only 
three  years  of  age.  He  commenced  his  education  in  the 
graded  school  taught  by  the  Harris  brothers,  Robert  and 
Cicero.  He  was  remarkably  witty,  even  to  a  degree 
bordering  upon  clownishness.  At  the  public  exhibitions 
of  the  school  when  he  appeared  everyone  expected  some- 
thing laughable.  With  his  humorous  points  there  was, 
however,  always  a  moral ;  they  were  meant  to  hit,  and 
he  seldom  missed  the  mark.  He  was  of  that  turn  of 
mind  which  gives  a  thoughtful  person  some  concern ;  if 
rightly  trained  such  make  useful  men.  John  was  fortu- 
nate in  his  teachers,  and  has  done  well.  He  entered  the 
State  Normal  School  in  his  native  city,  was  graduated  in 
1878,  and  delivered  the  valedictory.  He  was  one  of  the 
number  of  between  five  or  six  hundred  converts  at  a 
revival  conducted  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Davis,  commencing 
the  first  Sunday  in  January,  1880.  He  was  not  among  the 
early  converts ;  hundreds  had  embraced  religion  before 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       241 


he  yielded,  among  the  number  some  of  his  companions ; 
but  he  yielded  at  last,  and  was  converted  on  the  4th  of 
March.  He  was  one  of  three  hundred  who  were  received 
in  full  connection  on  the  6th  of  June,  1880,  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  October  4,  1880.  He  was  admitted 
on  trial  in  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1881, 
and  acted  as  assistant  sec- 
retary of  the  Conference. 
He  also  passed  the  exami- 
nation, and  was  ordained 
deacon  at  that  Conference. 
The  New  Haven  pulpit 
having  been  left  vacant  by 
the  transfer  of  Elder  Dy- 
son, Bishop  Hood,  who  suc- 
ceeded Bishop  Moore  in 
charge  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Conference,  found 
much  difficulty  in  finding 
a  man  for  that  church. 
After  several  unsuccess- 
ful efforts  he  concluded  to 
try  Smith  ;  the  church  was 
consulted,  and  was  found  willing  to  take  him,  young 
and  inexperienced  as  he  was,  if  he  was  ordained  an  elder. 
The  bishop  consented  to  this,  called  a  council  of  elders 
to  meet  him  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  where  Smith  passed  a 
satisfactory  examination  and  was  ordained  elder  on  the 
4th  of  September,  1882.  The  bishop  was  severely  criti- 
cised for  ordaining  Smith  without  his  election  by  an 
Annual  Conference,  but  the  salvation  of  the  church  was 


REV.    J.    W.    SMITH. 


242  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

at  stake,  and  the  bishop  remembered  that  the  Saviour  inti- 
mated to  the  Pharisees  that  it  is  always  lawful  to  do  good. 
Smith's  success  .showed  that  the  Lord  was  in  it. 

Another  bishop  followed,  and  persons  who  were  envi- 
ous of  Smith's  promotion  misled  the  new  bishop,  and 
Smith  was  left  without  work.  When  the  bishop  learned 
the  situation  it  was  too  late  to  provide  for  Smith  in  that 
Conference.  If  he  had  been  sent  to  the  Second  Church, 
Providence,  we  would  not  have  had  the  long-  struggle  to 
regain  that  church,  which  a  woman,  who  ought  never  to 
have  had  charge  of  it,  took  from  the  connection.  The 
person  responsible  was  the  greatest  sufferer  by  it. 

Smith  was  sent  to  the  Arkansas  Conference  to  labor 
until  the  sitting  of  the  Kentucky  Conference,  to  which  he 
was  transferred,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Fifteenth 
Street  Church,  Louisville,  Ky.  When  the  critical  condi- 
tion of  Galbreth  Chapel,  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  the 
early  part  of  1884,  made  it  necessary  for  Elder  N.  J. 
Green  to  take  charge  of  that  church,  Smith  was  again 
transferred  to  fill  the  vacancy  thus  made  at  Baltimore. 
Since  that  time  he  has  continued  a  member  of  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore  Conference,  and  has  had  very 
great  success,  both  in  the  temporal  and  spiritual  work 
of  the  Church ;  especially  at  Union  Wesley,  Washington 
City,  and  at  Harrisburg,  Pa.  He  is  now  engaged  in 
completing  a  splendid  parsonage  at  Carlisle,  Pa.  He  has 
been  Secretary  of  his  Annual  Conference  for  nine  years, 
and  Corresponding  Editor  of  the  Star  of  Zi'on  for  about 
the  same  length  of  time.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Conference  in  1888  and  1892.  He  has  an  enter- 
taining style  of  writing,  and  loves  to  fight  with  his  pen, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       243 

but  not  otherwise.     In  Conference  he  is  quiet,  and  in 
society  decidedly  agreeable. 

NEW  ENGLAND  CONFERENCE. 

The  New  England  Conference  was  organized  in  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  June  21,  1845.  There  were  seven  churches, 
as  follows:  Nantucket,  Mass.;  Providence,  R.  I.;  Mid- 
dletown,  New  Haven,  Hartford,  Stonington,  and  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  360  members.  This  is  the  second  offshoot 
from  the  New  York  Conference.  The  ministers  who 
were  set  off  with  this  Conference  were  Thomas  Henson, 
David  Vandervere,  Leven  Smith,  James  Simmons,  G. 
A.  Spywood,  Thomas  James,  John  P.  Thompson,  and 
Dempsey  Canady. 

This  Conference,  when  we  first  became  acquainted 
with  it,  was  regarded  as  the  strongest  intellectually  of 
any  in  the  connection,  and  was  foremost  in  the  advocacy 
of  whatever  tended  to  the  elevation  of  the  race.  Its 
standard  for  the  reception  and  advancement  of  young 
men  was  higher,  we  think,  than  any  other  African  Con- 
ference of  that  day.  It  was  understood  that  no  one  could 
receive  holy  orders  in  that  Conference  without  passing  a 
creditable  examination.  There  was  a  literary  society 
connected  with  the  Conference,  and  young  men  were  en- 
couraged to  improve  their  minds  by  the  offer  of  rewards 
for  the  best  essays.  There  were  in  that  Conference  at 
that  time  seven  of  the  strongest  men  of  the  connection, 
namely:  Samuel  T.  Gray,  Samuel  M.  Giles,  Sampson  D. 
Talbot,  James  A.  Jones,  George  A.  Spywood,  Peter  Ross, 
and  Joseph  Hicks.  It  is.  seldom  that  one  Conference 
contains  so  many  strong  men. 


244  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Among  the  promising  men  of  that  day  were  Revs.  R. 
R.  Morris  and  William  F.  Butler.  That  Conference  led 
all  others  in  its  advocacy  of  total  abstinence  from  all  in- 
toxicating drinks  as  a  beverage.  The  effect  of  the  health- 
ful moral  influence  of  those  days  is  still  seen  in  that 
Conference :  neither  the  baneful  effect  of  strong  drink 
nor  of  tobacco  is  noticed  upon  the  ministry  of  this  Con- 
ference. It  also  maintains  its  record  for  intelligence  and 
advanced  religious  thought.  The  present  roll  is  as  fol- 
lows: 

Bishop,  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Presiding  Elder,  N.  J.  Green,  D.D.* 

Elders,  Revs.  G.  H.  S.  Bell,  G.  L.  Blackwell,  A.M., 
S.T.B.,  A.  Day,  L.  H.  Taylor,  J.  F.  Waters,  E.  G. 
Biddle,  W.  B.  Bowen,  J.  E.  Evans,  W.  B.  Fenderson, 
C.  D.  Hazel,  S.  C.  Burchmore,  J.  B.  Colbert,  A.M., 
C.  Fairfax,  G.  M.  Payne,  C.  C.  Ringold. 

Deacons,  Revs.  Samuel  E.  Robinson,  J.  H.  Young, 
W.  J.  Holland,  S.  W.  Hutchins,  C.  Hatfield. 

Preachers,  J.  S.  Johnson,  A.  J.  Young,  S.  D.  Wain- 
wright,  R.  E.  Brown,  John  A.  Hall. 

Local  Elder,  Rev.  David  Davis. 

Local  Deacons,  Revs.  Allen  F.  Cooper,  Richard  Grant, 
Thomas  Taylor. 

Vice  President  Ladies  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  So- 
ciety, Miss  Eliza  Gardener. 

The  old  men  of  this  Conference  have  all  passed  away. 
It  has  given  the  connection  only  one  bishop,  namely,  J. 
W.  Hood.  Bishops  Spywood,  Simmons,  Ross,  and  Tal- 
bot were  all  members  of   this   Conference  for   several 

*  Deceased. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       245 

years,  but  none  of  them  entered  the  ministry  there. 
They  are  therefore  credited  to  New  York. 

The  New  England  Conference  had  at  one  time  the 
most  successful  local  mission  board.  As  much  as  a 
thousand  dollars  a  year  was  raised  and  expended  for 
missionary  purposes.  The  great  work  in  the  South  was 
started  by  this  institution.  Three  missionaries  were  sent 
to  North  Carolina  by  this  board  within  a  year ;  before 
the  war  it  sent  missionaries  to  Nova  Scotia  and  to  the 
West  Indies.  This  Conference  still  leads  in  raising 
funds  for  missionary  purposes.  It  has  the  credit  of  form- 
ing the  North  Carolina  Conference,  which  is  the  pioneer 
in  our  great  Southern  work;  and  the  mother  of  many 
other  Conferences. 

Miss  Eliza  A.  Gardener  has  been  the  most  conspicuous 
and  the  most  useful  woman  in  this  Conference,  if  not  in 
the  entire  connection.  She  has  always  been  true  to  her 
Church. 

REV.    G.    L.    BLACKWELL,    A.B.,    S.T.B. 

George  Lincoln  Black  well  first  saw  the  light  at  Hen- 
derson, N.  C,  July  3,  1 86 1.  He  is  one  of  the  eleven 
children  of  Haley  and  Catherine.  His  father  died  in 
1885,  his  mother  in  1890.  George  was  reared  and  re- 
ceived his  first  schooling  in  Granville  County,  near  Ox- 
ford, N.  C.  He  embraced  religion  in  1876,  in  his  fifteenth 
year,  and  connected  himself  with  Union  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church.  He  was  received  in  the 
North  Carolina  Conference  in  1881.  His  trial  sermon 
was  by  all  odds  the  best  to  which  the  writer  ever 
listened.     His  first  appointment  was  to  the   Morehead 


246 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


City  Circuit ;  he  remained  there  only  one  year  and  built 
one  church.  Many  were  converted  and  added  to  the 
church.  At  the  next  Conference  he  asked  to  be  re- 
lieved of  pastoral  work  that  he  might  enter  Livingston 
College.  He  was  ordained  deacon  at  this  Conference. 
He  had  only  two  dollars  when  he  reached  the  institution ; 


REV.    G.    L.    BLACKWELL,    A.B.,    S.T. 


he  says  he  hardly  knows  himself  how  he  managed  to 
squeeze  through  his  first  session. 

It  so  happened  that  just  as  the  institution  closed  in 
1883  Bishop  Hood,  who  is  noted  for  his  great  interest  in 
progressive  young  men,  having  a  vacancy  in  the  Man- 
chester Circuit,  Central  North  Carolina  Conference,  ap- 
pointed him  to  that  work,  where,  during  his  summer 
vacation,  he  received  $250  from  church  and  public  school 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       247 

teaching,  which  set  him  on  his  feet  once  more  financially. 
He,  in  connection  with  his  studies  at  school,  held  this 
appointment  for  nearly  two  years,  traveling  a  distance 
for  most  of  the  time  of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
miles  fortnightly  to  reach  the  charge. 

At  the  Conference  of  1884  he  was  left  without  an 
appointment  so  that  he  could  give  more  time  to  study ; 
but  in  May,  1885,  another  opening  was  made  just  at  a 
time  when  he  needed  some  financial  help.  Rev.  Abner 
Hill  had  caused  some  disruption  in  the  mountainous  sec- 
tion of  the  Conference  which  necessitated  some  changes 
to  be  made ;  hence,  Rev.  Blackwell  was  appointed  to 
Lincolnton  Station  to  fill  out  the  unexpired  term  of  Rev. 
E.  L.  Campbell.  Before  entering  on  the  work  Bishop 
S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  ordained  him  an  elder,  having  been 
elected  to  orders  at  the  previous  session  of  Conference. 
He  was  reappointed  to  this  station,  where  he  achieved 
wonderful  success.  It  was  here  that  he,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Revs.  R.  S.  Rives,  D.D.,  and  J.  W.  Thomas, 
published  the  first  daily  Conference  journal  during  the 
sitting  of  the  Conference.  In  1886  he  was  appointed  to 
the  Charlotte  station ;  but  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  former 
pastor  over  his  removal  caused  Blackwell  to  resign  his 
appointment,  and  he  was  then  sent  to  Statesville,  where 
he  spent  one  year  of  great  prosperity.  In  1888,  after 
six  consecutive  years  in  Livingstone  College,  Rev.  Black- 
well  graduated  in  a  class  of  ten — the  second  class  to  grad- 
uate from  the  classical  department  of  Livingstone — with 
the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  He  was  transferred  to 
the  New  England  Conference  and  stationed  at  Bridge- 
port, Conn.,  during  1888-89.  Bte  was  removed  at  the 
18 


248  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Conference  of  1889  to  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  where  he 
was  sent  especially  to  manage  the  debt  on  that  church, 
which  he  did  with  great  success.  During  his  first  year 
there  he  entered  Boston  University  School  of  Theology, 
from  which  he  graduated  June  1,  1892,  in  a  class  of 
thirty-eight,  of  which  he  was  the  only  colored  member 
with  the  degree  of  S.T.B.  This  school  of  theology  and 
Drew  Theological  Seminary,  from  which  Rev.  B.  F. 
Wheeler  graduated,  are  the  two  best  divinity  schools  of 
the  great  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  among  the 
best  in  the  country. 

May,  1 89 1,  Rev.  Blackwell  was  appointed  to  North 
Russell  Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
Boston,  Mass.  He  has  met  with  marvelous  success  in  his 
work  there.  In  the  first  six  months  of  his  pastorate  he, 
with  the  assistance  of  his  excellent  corps  of  workers,  was 
able  to  pay  off  the  entire  indebtedness  on  the  church,  which 
was  one  of  twenty-six  years'  standing.  In  his  great  rally 
on  December  13,  1891,  he  raised  in  a  single  day  the  sum 
of  $2,015,  perhaps  the  largest  amount  ever  raised  by  a 
Zion  minister  in  one  grand  rally.  He  was  reappointed 
to  this  charge  last  June.  Since  then  he  with  the  trus- 
tees has  had  the  church  thoroughly  repaired  at  the  cost 
of  $3,000.  It  was  formally  dedicated  the  third  Sunday 
of  September,  1892,  by  Rev.  N.  J.  Greene,  D.D.,  of 
Providence. 

In  December,  1887,  Elder  Blackwell  was  wedded  to 
Miss  Annie  E.,  eldest  daughter  of  Presiding  Elder  D.  I. 
Walker,  of  Chester,  S.  C,  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D. 
She  is  a  graduate  of  Scotia  Seminary,  and  withal  a  young 
woman  that  thoroughly  understands  herself.     She  was  a 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       249 

highly  successful  school-teacher,  and  taught  with  great 
acceptance  in  Statesville  and  Charlotte,  N.  C,  and  at  her 
home  in  Chester,  S.  C.  Her  excellent  attainments  are 
pronounced,  and  she  is  a  great  help  to  the  elder  in  his 
literary  and  parishional  work. 

As  to  Elder  Blackwell's  ability  as  a  scholar,  his  col- 
leagues easily  concede  to  him  a  foremost  place.  His 
services  as  secretary  of  the  Conference  and  compiler  of 
Minutes,  both  in  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference 
and  the  New  England  Conference,  have  been  of  high 
value.  It  is  said  by  many  who  ought  to  know  that  his 
style  of  publishing  Minutes  and  the  accuracy  of  the  con- 
tents make  the  Minutes  of  the  New  England  Conference 
surpass  those  of  any  other  Conference.  His  ability  to 
preach  was  acknowledged  by  the  students  while  in  college, 
and  all  the  General  Conferences  at  which  he  has  had  to 
preach  concede  his  superior  ability  in  this  respect.  Bishop 
Hood  said  in  open  Conference  that  ' '  Blackwell  is  the  best 
manuscript  preacher  in  Zion  Connection.  He  reads  his 
sermons  almost  as  well  as  any  can  extemporize,  and  makes 
an  impression  at  the  end  of  every  comma  and  period." 

Brother  Blackwell,  in  copartnership  with  Rev.  N.  J. 
Greene,  D.D.,  Presiding  Elder  of  the  New  England  Dis- 
trict, has  undertaken  the  preparation  of  an  encyclopedia 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  The 
title  has  been  copyrighted,  and  the  work  is  being  pushed 
to  completion  as  rapidly  as  reliability  and  accuracy  will 
allow.  Rev.  Blackwell  was  a  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference  at  New  Berne  in  i888,  and  at  Pittsburg  in  1892. 
— From  the  African  Metlwdist  Episcopal  Zion  Quarterly* 

*  Rev.  Blackwell  is  now  professor  of  theology  in  Livingstone  College. 


250  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

REV.    NATHANIEL   JAMES    GREENE,    D.D. 

Nathaniel  James  Greene  was  born  August  6,  1849,  in 
Philadelphia,  Pa.  He  began  school  life  at  five  years 
of  age,  completing  the  grammar  and  high  school  course. 

In  July,  1864,  he  enlisted  in  the  navy,  and  remained 
three  years,  serving  upon  the  following  vessels:  Paw- 
tuxet,  CJiocura,  Roman,  Norman,  Constellation,  North 
Carolina,  Pensacola,  Vermont,  Ram,  Nashville,  and  was 
steward  at  the  hospital  at  Warrington,  Fla.  ;  steward  also 
for  Captain  De  Camp,  on  board  of  the  United  States 
frigate  Potomac,  from  which  he  was  honorably  discharged, 
at  Philadelphia,  July  5,  1867.  Belonged  to  the  North 
Atlantic  Squadron,  and  was  on  the  blockade,  and  present 
in  both  of  the  bombardments  of  Fort  Fisher  and  Caswell, 
also  among  the  first  to  enter  Wilmington,  N.  C,  the 
morning  after  the  silencing  and  evacuation  of  the  forts 
and  the  surrender  of  the  city  to  the  Union  army.  He  was 
present  also  during  the  bombardment  of  the  forts  up  the 
James  River  and  the  subsequent  surrender  of  Richmond, 
Va. ,  and  participated  in  the  capture  of  blockade  runners, 
and  received  some  prize  money ;  encountered  several  severe 
storms,  and  had  some  miraculous  deliverances.  He  was 
converted  to  Christ  October  24,  baptized  in  the  Delaware 
River  November  28,  1867,  and  became  an  ardent  member 
of  Zion  Wesley  Church,  Lombard  Street,  below  Sixth,  in 
Philadelphia,  and  served  in  nearly  every  capacity  in  that 
church,  and  was  a  class  leader  and  local  preacher  also. 
He  became  an  itinerant  preacher  in  Zion  in  1880,  and  was 
ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  W.  H.  Hillery,  and  sent  to 
Eutaw    Chapel,    Baltimore,    Md.,    serving   three    years. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     2$l 


During  this  period  the  congregation  was  removed  from 
Eutaw  Chapel  to  their  present  church  home.  There  was 
also  a  congregation  covered  by  Zion  that  worshiped  on 
Pearl  Street,  an  organization  at  Ellicott  City,  and  at  Lau- 
rel, Md.,  where  through  his  energy  a  church  was  built 
and  dedicated  by  Right  Rev.  J.  J.  Moore,  D.D.,  and  called 
Moore's  Chapel.  In  1884  he  was  removed  by  Bishop 
Hood  to  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  placed  in 
charge  of  Galbreth 
Chapel,  to  serve  out  the 
unexpired  term  of  the 
late  Rev.  John  A.  Muli- 
gan,  who  had  been  re- 
lieved from  the  pastorate. 
The  church  was  a  frame 
structure  on  L  Street,  be- 
tween Fourth  and  Fifth, 
N.  W. ,  and  the  people  were 
anxious  to  purchase  the 
church  they  now  occupy, 
but  because  of  a  disagree- 
ment between  pastor  and 
people  had  failed;  their 
prize  seemed  to  have  been  lost  to  them,  and  they  were 
in  a  state  of  despondency.  Rev.  Greene  soon  obtained 
the  confidence  of  the  entire  people,  and,  with  the  assist- 
ance of  Rev.  J.  S.  Cowles  and  Bishop  Hood,  soon  re- 
gained lost  time  and  territory  and  secured  to  the  people 
one  of  the  finest  churches  we  have  in  that  city,  at  a  cost 
of  $16,500.     The  sale  of  the  old  church,  and  the  trans- 


REV.    N.    J.    GREENE,    D.D. 


2  52  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ferring  of  the  money  arising  from  such  sale  to  the  pur- 
chase of  the  new,  left  the  debt  on  June  10,  1886,  $12,700. 
Large  revivals  followed  his  labors  in  each  of  these  charges. 
In  Baltimore  during  his  stay  there  were  146  who  claimed 
conversion. 

In  Washington,  D.  C,  during  his  pastorate  210  were 
converted ;  1 1 5  of  this  number  were  in  his  last  year  and 
in  one  revival.  In  June,  1886,  he  was  removed  to  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  to  lift  up  the  heads  of  a  people  who  for  nine 
years  had  been  struggling  beneath  what  seemed  to  them 
to' be  a  heavy  debt,  and  in  one  year  succeeded  in  cancel- 
ling the  mortgage  of  $1,400,  with  lumber  and  coal  bills, 
as  well  as  back  salary  owed  the  presiding  elder.  He 
raised  nearly  $200  toward  the  building  fund,  also  estab- 
lished a  circulating  library  for  the  benefit  of  the  youth 
of  the  church.  r 

In  June,  1888,  he  was  elected  the  Presiding  Elder  of 
the  New  England  Conference,  which  office  he  has  filled 
with  profit  to  the  Church,  honor  to  the  connection,  and 
credit  to  himself,  and  won  the  respect  and  confidence  of 
the  Conference  and  of  the  several  communities  in  which 
he  is  called  to  labor. 

He  was  several  years  the  Secretary  of  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  Annual  Conference,  and  was  also  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  examining  board  of  holy  orders  and 
ministerial  studies.  He  served  also  as  book  steward  for  the 
same  Conference,  and  was  one  of  their  representatives  in 
the  General  Conference  of  1884  and  in  the  centennial  of 
Methodism  in  Baltimore  in  1884;  also  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  as  commissioner  to  effect  a  basis  of  organic  union 
between  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  and  the  African 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       253 

Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Churches.  He  was  ministerial 
delegate  to  several  Annual  Conferences,  and  a  delegate  to 
the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  Methodism  that  met  at 
Metropolitan  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  October,  1891,  and  was  the  guest  of  the  Western 
section  of  Methodism,  as  also  the  Methodist  family  *  of 
Philadelphia,  each  of  whom  gave  large  receptions  in  the 
most  prominent  halls  of  their  respective  cities.  He  was 
ministerial  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  at  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.,  May,  1892,  and  was  one  of  the  twelve  commis- 
sioners sent  to  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  from  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church,  to  meet  a  like  number  from 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  to  prepare  a 
basis  of  organic  union,  to  be  submitted  to  each  General 
Conference,  then  in  session,  one  in  Pittsburg  and  the 
other  at  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

In  the  General  Conferences  of  1884  and  1888  he  served 
as  secretary,  and  upon  important  committees;  in  1892 
he  also  filled  important  positions  upon  committees,  such 
as  Book  Room,  Ecumenical  Conference,  Audit,  Revision, 
and  Finance. 

As  a  preacher  he  is  logical,  forcible,  and  enthusiastic. 
He  received  the  degree  of  Divinitatis  Doctor  from  Living- 
stone College,  Friday,  April  17,  1891. 

In  1885  he  published  in  pamphlet  form  two  sermons. 
He  has  written  frequently  for  the  Star  of  Zion,  Boston  Ad- 
vocate, African  Methodist,  and  several  other  papers,  and  is 
now  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  an  encyclopedia  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  in  copartner- 

*  This  refers  to  receptions  given  to  delegates  at  the  close  of  the  Ecumen- 
ical Conference. 


2  54  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ship  with  the  Rev.  G.  L.  Blackwell,  A.B.,  S.T.B.  This 
work  is  to  be  a  wonderful  addition  to  the  literary  aspect 
of  the  Afro- American.  He  has  completed  his  term  of 
four  years  in  the  office  of  presiding  elder,  and  has  won 
for  himself  the  love  and  respect  of  the  entire  New 
England  district  over  which  he  has  so  ably  presided. — 
Extract  from  "  The  New  England  Torch  Light."  * 

REV.    SAMUEL   C.    BIRCHMORE. 

Samuel  C.  Birchmore  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Md., 
1 84 1  ;  was  converted  in  Orchard  Street  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church  in  1856,  and  united  with  that  church.  He 
attended  school  in  Baltimore  under  Rev.  Harrison  Webb 
and  Dr.  G.  T.  Watkins;  came  to  Providence,  R.  I.,  in 
1 86 1,  and  united  with  the  First  Church  in  1865,  under  the 
pastorate  of  Rev.  G.  H.  Washington;  was  licensed  as 
a  local  preacher  in  1866;  was  made  a  missionary  and 
ordained  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  in  Providence,  August, 
1868,  and  sent  to  Key  West,  Fla.,  by  the  Mission  Board 
of  New  England,  remaining  during  1868  and  1869,  doing 
successful  work  in  organizing  churches  in  Tampa,  Sim- 
mons, and  Hammock,  covering  Dade  and  Marion  Counties. 
He  was  transferred  in  1870  to  the  New  England  Confer- 
ence and  stationed  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  remaining  three 
years.  In  1873  he  was  appointed  to  Middletown,  Conn. ; 
in  1874,  1875,  and  1876  he  served  at  Hartford,  repairing 
the  church  and  increasing  its  membership  greatly  by 
revivals.     In  1877  and  1878  he  served  the  Second  Church, 

*  Since  the  foregoing  was  published  Elder  Greene  has  passed  away. 
We  unreservedly  indorse  what  is  said  of  him.  He  was  among  the  best 
presiding  elders  that  we  have  known. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       255 

Providence,  and  in  1879  was  transferred  to  the  New  York 
Conference  and  stationed  at  Oyster  Bay,  having  Oyster 
Bay,  Hempstead,  and  Jerusalem  as  a  circuit.  Here  he 
saved  the  church  at  Oyster  Bay,  which  had  been  split  and 
an  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Society  organized.      He 


REV.    SAMUEL   C    BIRCHMORE. 


built  a  parsonage  and  repaired  the  church.  The  circuit 
was  for  the  first  time  divided;  Hempstead  was  made  a 
station,  and  he  was  appointed  pastor  in  188 1.  In  1882  he 
was  sent  by  request  to  Poughkeepsie,  and  remained  three 
years,  repairing  the  church  and  adding  to  its  membership. 
In    1885,    1886,    and    1887   he  served  at  Troy,   N.    Y. ; 


256  *        ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 

in  1888  he  was  transferred  to  the  New  England  Confer- 
ence and  stationed  at  Boston,  Mass.,  remaining  there  two 
years,  repairing  the  church  and  paying  off  eleven  hundred 
of  the  twenty-two  hundred  dollars  of  debt,  and  increasing 
its  membership.  In  1891  he  served  Providence,  Second 
Church,  remaining  two  years.  In  1893  he  was  sent  to 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  and  at  the  death  of  Presiding  Elder 
N.J.  Greene  succeeded  him  as  presiding  elder  of  the  New 
England  Conference.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
General  Conferences  of  1868,  1876,  1880,  1884,  and  1892, 
always  serving  upon  the  Committee  on  Districts. 

REV.  J.   B.   COLBERT. 

J.  B.  Colbert  was  born  in  Cedar  Creek  township,  Lan- 
caster County,  S.  C,  June  28,  1861.  He  attended  the 
common  schools  of  the  county  until  he  was  eighteen  years 
of  age,  when  he  attended  the  Lancaster  High  School. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  he  entered  Livingstone 
College.  After  teaching  several  terms  in  the  State  of 
South  Carolina  he  entered  Livingstone  College  in  January, 
1883,  and  was  converted  the  third  day  after.  He  was  li- 
censed as  a  local  preacher  in  Concord,  N.  C,  1884 ;  joined 
the  South  Carolina  Conference  1 88  5  as  a  traveling  preacher, 
and  was  stationed  on  the  Indian  Hill  Circuit,  where  he 
served  one  year,  during  which  time  he  raised  more  gen- 
eral fund  than  ever  was  raised  by  any  of  his  predeces- 
sors, and  built  a  splendid  frame  church.  He  was  ordained 
deacon  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  in  1886,  ordained  elder 
1888,  and  was  stationed  at  Rock  Hill,  S.  C,  where  he 
conducted  a  glorious  revival  and  many  souls  were  added 
to  the  church.     The  parsonage  was  handsomely  repaired 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      257 

and    much-needed    improvements   made  in  the  church. 
His  next  appointment  was  the  Fort  Lawn  Circuit,  where 


REV.   J.    B.    COLBERT, 


he  remained  only  a  few  months  before  he  was  transferred 
by  Bishop  Jones  to  the  New  England  Conference   and 


258  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

was  appointed  to  the  Zion  Church  at  Derby,  Conn.,  by 
Bishop  Hood.  Here  the  long-standing  debt  which  had 
remained  on  the  church  since  its  erection  was  liquidated 
the  first  year  of  his  administration.  He  remained  here 
two  years ;  the  last  year  he  pursued  a  course  of  theology 
at  Yale  Divinity  School  in  connection  with  his  pastoral 
duties.  Bishop  Hood  moved  him  from  Derby  against 
the  wishes  of  the  congregation,  and  sent  him  to  take 
charge  of  the  First  Church,  Providence,  R.  I.  The  peo- 
ple at  Providence  had  been  without  a  church  for  nearly 
three  years,  and  were  then  worshiping  in  a  hall,  having 
been  compelled  to  sell  their  church  to  make  way  for 
railroad  improvements.  Many  of  them  had  lost  all 
hopes  of  ever  rebuilding  the  walls  of  Zion.  During  this 
interval  many  of  the  older  members  passed  away,  while 
the  younger  ones  lost  interest  in  the  church.  With  this 
condition  of  things  Rev.  Colbert  commenced  the  arduous 
task  of  reviving  their  wavering  interest  and  restoring 
their  lost  confidence.  He  did  not  find  it  the  easiest  task 
in  the  world,  but  he  went  about  it  with  a  determination 
to  do  the  best  he  could  under  God.*  In  less  than  eight- 
een months  the  vestry  of  the  church  was  completed  at  a 
cost  of  $16,143.17,  including  the  lot  upon  which  it  is 
erected;  the  building  alone  costing  over  $12,000,  all  of 
which  is  paid  for  up  to  date  (February,  1894)  except 
about  $5,300.  The  vestry  was  dedicated  by  Bishop 
Hood,  November  26,  1893,  assisted  by  visiting  clergymen. 

*  His  predecessor,  Rev.  W.  B.  Bowen,  had  paid  for  the  church  lot  $4,5°°, 
and  had  raised  and  put  in  bank  over  $3,000,  which  Rev.  Colbert  had  to 
begin  with.  He  (Rev.  Colbert)  inaugurated  a  most  unique  financial  plan, 
which  resulted  in  over  $1,400  in  the  interest  of  the  building  fund  of  the 
proposed  new  church. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      259 
REV.    WILLIAM    B.    FENDERSON,  A.B.,   S.T.B. 

William  Benjamin  Fenderson,  A.B.,  S.T.B. ,  was  born 
at  Swansboro,  N.  C,  November  7,  1856,  and  when 
eleven  years  old  united  with  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church,  but  did  not  receive  the  evidence  of  the 
new  birth  until  he  had  reached  his  eighteenth  year.  He 
began  the  work  of  self-education  late  in  life,  having 
gone  to  school  only  two  months  prior  to  reaching  his 
majority.  He  attended  the  State  normal  schools  at 
Fayetteville,  New  Berne,  and  Plymouth,  N.  C,  and  in 
1884  went  to  Livingstone  College,  Salisbury,  N.  C, 
where  he  entered  the  senior  class  in  the  normal  depart- 
ment, from  which  he  graduated  with  the  class  of  '85,  the 
first  class  sent  out  from  the  college.  In  the  fall  of  1885 
he  entered  the  classical  department  of  the  college,  and 
graduated  with  the -class  of  '89,  with  the  degree  of  A.B. 

While  in  college  he  became  deeply  impressed  with 
what  he  had  realized  eight  years  previous — a  divine  call 
to  the  ministry,  which  he  had  formerly  resisted  because 
of  his  limited  education ;  but  as  God  had  so  signally 
blessed  him  in  his  efforts  to  procure  a  liberal  education 
he  felt  that  he  could  no  longer  refuse  to  enter  upon  the 
work  to  which  God  had  called  him  ;  so  at  the  age  of 
thirty  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  in  the  following 
year,  1887,  joined  the  Western  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
and  was  ordained  deacon  at  the  same  Conference. 

During  his  last  three  years  in  college  he  preached  at 
China  Grove,  Second  Creek,  and  Cleveland,  N.  C,  at 
which  places  God  greatly  blessed  his  labors.     Many  souls 


26o 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


were  converted  and  the  churches  repaired    and  beauti- 
fied. 

In  the  fall  of  1889  he  entered  the  Gammon  Theological 
Seminary  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  where  he  studied  a  year  and  a 
half.     While  there  he  accepted  a  transfer  to  the  North 


REV.    WILLIAM    B.    FENDERSON,    A.B.,    S.T.B. 

Georgia    Conference,    was    ordained    elder   and    sent    to 
Stone  Mountain,  Ga. 

In  1 89 1  he  was  transferred  to  the  New  England  Con- 
ference, and  stationed  at  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  where  he 
is  now  serving  his  third  year.  His  labors  at  this  church 
have  been  a  decided  success,  having  greatly  reduced  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       26 1 

debt  and  conducted  the  most  successful  revival  in  the 
history  of  the  church. 

Shortly  after  coming  to  Cambridge  he  entered  the 
Boston  University  School  of  Theology,  and  graduated 
with  the  class  of  '93,  receiving  the  degree  of  S.T.B. 

In  May,  1891,  Rev.  Fenderson  was  married  to  Miss 
Emma  Frances  Hooper,  a  teacher  in  the  city  schools  of 
Wilmington,  N.  C,  and  a  graduate  of  Hampton  Normal 
School,  Hampton,  Va.  She  has  been  helpful  to  him  in 
both  the  pastorate  and  study. 

REV.  WILLIAM    B.    BOWEN. 

William  B.  Bowen  was  born  at  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
March  12,  1853.  He  went  North  during  the  war  with 
Surgeon  J.  M.  Rice,  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Massachusetts 
Volunteers,  and  made  Worcester,  Mass.,  his  adopted 
home.  He  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Worces- 
ter, having  graduated  from  the  grammar  school  and  spent 
a  year  in  special  preparation  for  the  ministry  at  Worcester 
Academy.  He  was  happily  converted  December  19, 
1867,  and  joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church.  An  association  of  physicians  volunteered  to 
educate  him  for  the  medical  profession,  but  he  refused 
this  offer  because  he  believed  God  had  called  him  to 
preach  the  glorious  Gospel.  He  was  an  active  member 
of  the  Worcester  church,  and  a  trustee,  class  leader, 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  local  preacher 
when  he  joined  the  New  England  Conference,  having 
been  made  class  leader  when  seventeen  and  filling  the  office 
eleven  consecutive  years ;  received  exhorter's  license  Au- 
gust  11,    1875,  and  local  preacher's  license  February  4, 


262 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


REV.    WILLIAM    B.    BOWEN. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      263 

1876,  from  Elder  M.  H.  Ross.  He  entered  the  New 
England  Conferenee  June  16,  1879.  The  Conference 
appointed  him  to  a  scholarship  at  Zion  Hill  Collegiate 
Institute,  but  as  the  school  was  not  in  a  flourishing  con- 
dition Bishop  Clinton,  in  the  absence  of  Bishop  Moore, 
who  was  in  England  collecting  funds,  advised  him  to  enter 
the  Worcester  Academy,  which  he  did.  He  was  or- 
dained deacon  April  12,  1880,  at  New  Haven,  Conn., 
and  elder  June  6,  1881,  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  by  Bishop 
Moore,  served  one  year  at  Waterbury,  Conn.,  and  three 
*  years  at  New  Bedford,  where  he  repaired  and  beautified 
the  church  and  entertained  Conference.  Bishop  Jones 
sent  him  to  Cambridge  to  build  up  the  mission  work 
there.  During  his  five  years'  pastorate  in  that  city  nearly 
a  hundred  souls  were  converted  during  several  gracious 
revivals ;  a  lot  was  bought  and  the  Rush  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church  erected.  In  1889  Bishop 
Hood  appointed  him  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Church, 
Providence,  where  he  remained  three  years,  bought  and 
paid  for  the  beautiful  site,  and  raised  part  of  the  money 
with  which  the  new  and  commodious  church  was  erected, 
recently  dedicated  by  Bishop  Hood.  At  Providence  his 
labors  were  crowned  with  two  glorious  revivals,  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  professing  to  have  found  a  Sav- 
iour's love.  He  is  now  serving  his  second  year  at  Derby, 
Conn.,  and  they  have  been  years  of  ingathering  of  souls. 
A  lot  on  which  to  erect  a  parsonage  has  been  purchased. 
During  his  fourteen  years'  service  in  the  New  England 
Conference  very  nearly  three  hundred  persons  have  pro- 
fessed to  find  the  pearl  of  great  price,  nine  thousand 
dollars  has  been  collected  and  paid  in  the  purchase  of 

19 


264  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

land  and  the  erection  of  churches  for  God  and  Zionr 
besides  the  annual  collections  for  educational,  missionary, 
and  other  connectional  and  charitable  purposes. 

REV.    G.    H«    WASHINGTON. 

No  history  of  this  Conference  would  be  complete  that 
failed  to  mention  Rev.  G.  H.  Washington,  who  was  for 
a  long  time  regarded  as  the  strongest  man  in  the  Con- 
ference. Through  his  energy  he  kept  this  Conference  in 
the  lead  ill  finance.  It  was  the  first  Conference  that  raised 
its  full  quota  of  fifty  cents  per  member  on  general  fund. 
The  New  Jersey  is  the  only  other  Conference  which  has 
come  to  that  point  yet.  He  was  long  the  Conference 
steward ;  also  the  district  steward  during  the  period  that 
the  bishops  were  paid  by  districts.  The  church  in  New 
Haven  is  a  monument  to  his  memory  as  a  church  builder. 
He  also  secured  the  church  in  Boston.  He  died  in  good 
old  age,  and  was  buried  in  the  honors  of  the  Christian  war. 

ALLEGHENY    CONFERENCE. 

The  fourth  Conference  was  the  Allegheny,  which  was 
the  first  offshoot  from  the  Philadelphia  Conference.  This 
Conference  was  formally  organized  in  1849,  but  for  nearly 
twenty  years  before  that  it  had  been  designated  as  the 
Western  District  of  Pennsylvania,  and  there  were  minis- 
ters who  labored  altogether  in  that  district.  The  follow- 
ing named  ministers  were  laboring  in  that,  district  as 
early  as  1829:  Jacob  D.  Richardson,  Samuel  Johnson, 
and  Abraham  Green.  Bishops  George  Galbreth  and  S. 
T.  Jones  were  among  the  number  of  those  of  whom  this 
Conference   was    formed.      This    Conference  was   more 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       265 

affected  by  the  split  in  the  Church  than  any  other.  It 
seems  to  have  gotten  a  setback  at  that  time  from  which 
it  took  a  great  while  to  recover.  But  during  the  last 
eight  or  ten  years  it  has  gradually  improved  and  has  been 
divided,  and  the  Ohio  Conference  has  been  set  off  from 
it.  This  Conference  has  given  the  connection  two  bishops, 
namely,  George  Galbreth  and  S.  T.  Jones.  The  present 
roll  is  as  follows : 

Bishop,  C.  R.  Harris,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elder,  N.  J.  Watson. 

Elders,  Rev.  L.  D.  Blackson,  J.  T.  Writt,  G.  W.  Clin- 
ton, A.B.,  R.  E.  Wilson,  P.  R.  Anderson,  S.  Claiborne, 
S.  J.  Whiting,  M.  M.  Bell,  J.  C.  Docket,  N.  Williams",* 
P.  L.  Cuyler. 

This  Conference  contains  at  the  present  time  quite  a 
number  of  promising  young  men. 

REV.   SMITH  CLAIBORNE, 
Pastor  of  JoJni  Wesley  Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

Smith  Claiborne  was  born  in  Barren  County,  Ky.,  in 
1847;  was  married  in  1869  in  Louisville.  He  embraced 
religion  a  little  later  in  the  Fifteenth  Street  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  joined  the  Vine 
Street  Church  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  E.  H.  Curry. 
Three  weeks  after  becoming  a  member  he  was  elected 
superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  school,  which  position  he 
filled  to  great  satisfaction  until  1876,  when  he  joined  the 
Annual  Conference.  Since  that  time  he  has  been  pastor, 
with  a  high  degree  of  success,  in  the  following  churches, 
namely:  Mount  Olive,  Eminence,  Ky ;  Manson  Taber- 
*  Lately  deceased. 


266 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


nacle,  Memphis,  Term.  ;  Sherman  Chapel,  Lebanon,  Ky. ; 
Bloomfield  Circuit,  Nelson  County,  Ky. ;  Logan's  Temple, 
Knoxville,  East  Tenn.  ;  Walker's  Chapel,  Madisonville, 
Ky.  ;    Washington   Chapel,   St.   Louis,   Mo.  ;    the  second 


REV.   SMITH    CLAIBORNE. 


largest  church  in  the  Conference.  He  was  at  this  point 
two  years,  and  met  with  the  most  nattering  success  in 
every  way.  A  thing  that  scarcely  ever  happens  makes  a 
memorable  epoch  in  the  life  of  this  model  man,  namely, 
he  was  a  very  successful  pastor  of  the  church  in  which 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       267 

he  was  converted ;  many  of  the  members  sang  and  prayed 
for  him  while  he  was  lying  at  the  anxious  seat  strug- 
gling for  life  eternal.  He  served  this,  the  Twelfth 
Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Louis- 
ville, Ky. ,  for  three  consecutive  years,  and  that,  too,  with  a 
degree  of  success  superior  to  that  of  any  other  man  before 
or  since  his  time,  notwithstanding  it  is  said  that  a  prophet 
is  not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country.  In  Jacob 
Street  Tabernacle,  which  stands  on  the  same  spot  of 
ground  that  Vine  Street  Church  did,  in  which  he  was 
first  licensed  to  preach,  he  was  elected  presiding  elder 
in  1888  and  assigned  to  the  fourth  district  of  the  Ken- 
tucky Conference,  which  district  now  constitutes  the 
Missouri  Conference.  A  very  bad  state  of  affairs  stared 
him  in  the  face  at  nearly  every  church  on  the  district. 
A  complicated  disease  of  financial  and  spiritual  indigence 
threatened  the  loss  of  a  number  of  them.  But,  unlike 
many,  this  brave  and  honest  man  met  these  troubles,  and 
with  the  cooperation  of  his  pastors  and  their  parishioners  lie 
prayed  and  labored  diligently,  honestly,  and  patiently  for 
three  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  left  the  district 
clear  of  debt  with  but  two  exceptions,  there  having 
been  paid  between  $800  and  $1,000  on  these,  which  put 
them  out  of  danger;  and  besides  that,  four  new  churches 
had  been  built,  three  new  societies  formed,  and  church 
property  valued  at  $1,200,  with  a  good  membership,  was 
brought  into  the  connection  at  Greenfield,  111.,  all  of 
which  was  paid  for  when  he  resigned  the  office  of  pre- 
siding elder  at  the  Annual  Conference  held  at  Hender- 
son, Ky.,  September,  1891,  except  $70,  leaving  the  dis- 
trict two  hundred  per  cent  better  than  it  was  when  he 


268  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

took  charge  of  it.  He  has  always  made  commendable 
reports  at  the  Annual  Conferences,  which  were  backed 
up  by  a  character  that  has  been  and  is  now  beyond 
reproach  or  impeachment  before  the  most  scrupulous 
judges.  He,  has  reported  more  general  fund  in  propor- 
tion than  any  other  member  of  either  the  Kentucky  or 
Missouri  Conference.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General 
Conferences  of  1880,  1884,  1888,  and  1892.  He  always 
pays  close  attention  to  business  and   is  a  safe  legislator. 

REV.    GEORGE    WYLIE    CLINTON,    A.M., 

Editor  of  the  ' '  Star  of  Zion"  the  Official  Organ  of  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  CJiurcJi. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Lancaster 
County,  S.  C,  March  28,  1859.  His  father  having  died 
when  he  was  but  two  years  old,  he  was  brought  up  in 
the  home  of  his  grandparents,  with  whom  he  and  his 
mother  lived  until  he  was  sixteen  years  old.  He  received 
the.  training  of  the  common  schools  of  Lancaster  County, 
and  entered  the  senior  class  of  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment of  the  South  Carolina  University,  an  institution 
which  has  sent  out  some  of  the  first  men  of  the  South, 
in  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  spheres.  He  remained  in 
the  South  Carolina  University  until  he  had  completed  his 
sophomore  year  in  the  classical  department.  This  was 
the  year  1876,  when  Wade  Hampton  was  elected  by  the 
Democratic  party  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  as  a 
consequence  colored  students  were  compelled  to  with- 
draw from  the  University.  His  education  being  thus 
suddenly  broken  off,  he  returned  home,  assisted  his 
mother  and  grandmother  in  harvesting  the  crop  of  that 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      269 


year,  and  then  began  his  career  as  a  teacher  in  the  public 
schools  of  his  native  State.  It  may  be  observed  here  that 
young  Clinton  was  very  much  devoted  to  his  mother,  and 
that  this  devotion  was  largely  the  natural  result  of  the 


;i^**^:. 


REV.   G.   W.   CLINTON,   A.M. 

pious  training  which  she  had  given  him.  The  death  of 
his  father  when  he  was  so  young  necessarily  brought  him 
more  fully  under  the  care  and  training  of  his  mother  and 
more  constantly  in  her  association. 

While  at  home  young  Clinton  was    appointed  to  the 
position  of  clerk  in  the  office  of  C.  P.  Pelham,  Auditor 


27O  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

of  Lancaster  County,  and  remained  in  this  position  till 
called  to  larger  fields  as  a  teacher  of  his  race.  One  inci- 
dent in  connection  with  his  experience  in  this  office 
deserves  special  mention  because  of  its  suggestion  of  the 
guidance  of  the  unseen  hand  of  Providence.  In  connec- 
tion with  his  other  duties  he  began  the  study  of  law  in  the 
office  of  two  leading  Democratic  lawyers  of  Lancaster, 
and,  as  it  was  recommended  by  Blackstone,  he  undertook  a 
close  and  earnest  reading  of  the  Bible.  His  interest  in 
the  Bible  soon  outgrew  his  interest  in  Blackstone  and 
Kent ;  and,  having  believed  on  Him  who  saves  to  the 
uttermost,  he  abandoned  law  as  a  profession  and  was 
licensed  to  preach  on  February  14,  1879.  This  was  the 
turning  point  in  his  life.  He  continued  preaching  and 
teaching  until  November,  1891,  when  he  joined  the  South 
Carolina  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church,  and  ' '  forsook  all  and  followed  Him."  From 
this  time  on  Rev.  Clinton's  history  is  a  part  of  the  history 
of  his  Church  in  South  Carolina  and  in  the  nation,  as  a 
preacher  and  religious  teacher,  with  both  tongue  and  pen. 

His  first  appointment  as  an  itinerant  preacher  was  near 
Chester,  S.  C.  He  resided  in  the  town,  and  in  order 
to  complete  his  college  course  connected  himself  with 
Brainard  Institute,  a  high-grade  institution  located  there. 
This  was  another  characteristic  and  significant  step.  He 
must  complete  the  foundation  upon  which  he  proposed  to 
build  the  education  of  a  lifetime. 

While  studying  in  this  institution  he  so  commended 
himself  as  an  earnest  and  successful  student  that  he  was 
given  by  Rev.  Samuel  Loomis,  A.M.,  the  principal,  a 
position  as  teacher,  which  afforded  some  remuneration 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      2JI 

and  at  the  same  time  permitted  him  to  carry  out  his  reso- 
lution to  complete  his  college  course.  He  graduated 
with  high  rank,  and  entered  more  regularly  upon  the 
work  of  the  itinerant  ministry  in  his  Conference.  He 
continued  in  this  capacity  five  or  six  years,  when  he  was 
transferred  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  to  the  Alle- 
gheny Conference  to  take  the  difficult  appointment  of 
John  Wesley  Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  perhaps  the  most 
important  appointment  west  of  New  York.  In  this 
appointment  he  followed  one  of  the  most  experienced 
and  successful  men  in  the  entire  connection,  and  one 
who,  it  was  thought,  had  carried  "John  Wesley"  to  its 
high-water  mark.  But  our  subject  made  a  new  mark  for 
her,  and  gave  her  a  record  and  standing  which  alike 
astonished  and  delighted  the  membership  and  the  chief 
pastors  under  whom  he  labored.  The  proof  of  the  suc- 
cess of  his  management  of  this  church  was  given  in  the 
manner  in  which  it  entertained  the  great  General  Con- 
ference of  1892.  This  appointment  may  be  considered 
to  mark  the  end  of  the  first  stage  of  Rev.  Clinton's  career 
as  a  rising  young  divine  in  his  Church. 

Before  proceeding  to  review  the  second  stage  of  his 
career  it  would  be  proper  to  remark  that  during  almost 
the  entire  period  of  Rev.  Clinton's  itinerancy  in  the 
South  Carolina  Conference  he  was  without  question  the 
leading  man  of  the  Conference,  confessedly  the  standard 
by  which  the  best  material  of  the  Conference  was  gauged. 
He  was  a  sort  of  standing  secretary  of  the  Conference 
and  perpetual  compiler  and  publisher  of  the  Minutes. 
This  distinction  was  due  in  no  sense  to  an  inclination 
to  favoritism  on  the  part  of  the  Conference ;  he  won  it  by 


272  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

his  merit  as  an  accurate,  painstaking,  scholarly  worker, 
and  nobody  thought  of  anything  else  than  that  this  busi- 
ness of  the  Conference  was  in  his  hands.  When  he  was 
transferred  he  was  Conference  steward,  or  connection 
treasurer  for  the  Conference,  showing  that  his  colleagues 
saw  in  him  not  only  scholarship,  but  sound  business 
methods  and  unwavering  integrity.  These  character- 
istics of  Rev.  Clinton  had  already  opened  up  to  him  the 
columns  of  the  leading  papers  of  his  State,  like  the 
Charleston  News  and  Courier,  the  Charleston  Sun,  the 
Century,  the  Union  Times,  and  the  Lancaster  Ledger;  and 
all  the  colored  journals  sought  him.  His  contributions 
to  these  periodicals  always  furnished  evidence  of  thought, 
literary  taste,  and  scholarship. 

Editor  Clinton's  popularity  in  his  Conference  and  his 
influence  in  his  State  were  the  means  by  which  the  writer 
first  came  to  a  knowledge  of  his  usefulness  and  prospects. 

Returning  now  to  the  beginning  of  the  second  stage  of 
his  career,  we  find  him  the  accomplished,  eloquent,  and 
popular  pastor  of  the  John  Wesley  Church,  Pittsburg, 
Pa.  From  this  time  on  South  Carolina  can  claim  him 
only  in  common  with  other  portions  of  the  great  Church 
of  which  he  has  now  become  a  leading  figure.  Even 
before  he  left  South  Carolina,  as  a  representative  of  his 
Conference  in  the  General  Conferences  at  New  York  and 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  his  merits  were  acknowledged  by  the 
general  Church  in  his  being  chosen  assistant  secretary  at 
both  these  Conferences,  and  at  the  latter  he  was  also 
created  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church  to  confer  with  similar  repre- 
sentatives of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       273 

organic  union.  But  along  with  his  appointment  to  Pitts- 
burg the  Church  urged  consideration  of  him  as  a  suitable 
man  to  succeed  Hon.  John  C.  Dancy  as  editor  of  the 
church  organ,  the  Star  of  Zion.  Rev.  Clinton  had  long 
ago  demonstrated  his  right  to  such  consideration  by  his 
luminous  contributions  to  the  papers  above  referred  to  as 
well  as  to  the  Star  of  Zion,  and  in  Pittsburg  as  editor  of  the 
Afro-American  Spokesman,  to  which  position  he  was  chosen 
by  the  colored  ministers  of  western  Pennsylvania  of  all 
denominations.  He  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  he  had 
talent  and  calling  in  that  direction. 

But  he  gives  further  and  conclusive  demonstration  of 
his  fitness  for  the  position  that  was  evidently  looming  up 
for  him  by  projecting,  founding,  and  running  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  Quarterly.  This  effort 
showed  not  only  his  genius  for  organization,  but  his  abil- 
ity to  manage  successfully  a  large  and  important  literary 
venture.  He  ran  the  Quarterly  on  his  own  resources  for 
two  years,  and  then  turned  it  over  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  Pittsburg  without  a  cent  of  cost  to  the  connection. 
The  Quarterly  is  now  one  of  the  established  institutions 
of  the  Church,  and  if  Editor  Clinton  had  originated  and 
established  no  other  great  enterprise  this  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  give  him  perpetual  fame  in  the  Church.  But 
brilliant  and  creditable  as  is  this  effort  of  his,  it  is  only 
the  door  by  which  he  enters  into  larger  avenues  of  use- 
fulness to  his  Church  and  his  race.  At  the  General  Con- 
ference in  Pittsburg  in  1892  he  was  elected  by  a  good 
majority  to  the  place  of  editor  of  the  Star  of  Zion,  his 
Church  organ.  He  was  by  this  choice  elevated  to  one  of 
the  most  responsible  and  distinguished   positions  in  his 


2  74  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Church — a  position  of  honor,  and  one  matched  only  by 
the  presidency  of  Livingstone  College  in  its  requirements 
for  scholarship,  broad  culture,  and  sound  judgment  as  a 
good  business  man  and  high  executive  officer  of  the  con- 
nection. 

At  the  early  age  of  twenty-one  he  married  Miss  E.  J. 
Peay,  of  Rock  Hill,  S.  C,  who  was  also  a  student  at 
Brainard  Institute,  the  alma  mater  of  her  husband.  This 
was  a  most  happy  union,  and  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  Mrs. 
Clinton  was  a  large  factor  in  the  rapid  progress  and 
advancement  of  her  husband.  The  writer  was  an  eye- 
witness of  the  halo  of  grace  and  gentle  inspiration  which 
her  presence  cast  around  the  home  of  which  she  was  the 
center.  But,  alas !  as  the  bud  fadeth  in  the  time  of  its 
sweetest  fragrance  her  soul  eluded  the  grasp  of  time  and 
was  transplanted  to  the  great  beyond,  where  it  fadeth  not 
for  evermore.  S.  G.  Atkins. 

REV.    ROBERT    E.    WILSON,    M.A. 

This  successful  pastor  of  the  church  at  Johnstown, 
Pa.,  was  born  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  July  8,  1864.  He 
received  his  early  training  in  the  public  schools.  In 
1880  he  completed  his  normal  course  at  "Avery  Insti- 
tute," in  his  native  city.  Being  inclined  toward  the 
legal  profession,  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Lee  & 
Bowen,  where  he  successfully  prosecuted  his  studies  un- 
til the  fall  of  1 88 1,  when  he  entered  Claflin  University 
with  the  intention  of  taking  the  classical  course.  Lack 
of  means  compelled  him  at  the  end  of  two  years  to  leave 
school  and  engage  in  teaching.  As  principal  of  the 
Florence    graded  school    he    gave    great    satisfaction   to 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       275 

trustees,  parents,  and  scholars.  He  was  converted  in 
1 88 1  at  a  revival  in  Charleston,  was  licensed  to  preach 
in  1884,  was  received  into  the  Annual  Conference  in 
1885,  and,  realizing  the  necessity  of  a  better  preparation 


REV.    R.    E.    WILSON,    M.A. 


for  the  work,  he  entered  the  Gammon  School  of  Theol- 
ogy, Ga.,  where  he  successfully  pursued  the  course,  and 
at  the  same  time  served  a  circuit  as  pastor.  He  returned 
to  South  Carolina  in  1887,  and  served  acceptably  the 
charges  to  which  he  was  appointed.  In  1890  he  was 
transferred  by  Bishop  Jones  to  the  Allegheny  Confer- 


2J6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ence,  and  stationed  at  Johnstown.  He  is  the  only  col- 
ored minister  in  that  city,  and  is  a  member  of  recognized 
ability  of  the  Ministerial  Association,  before  which  he 
has  read  papers  which  were  highly  complimented.  Rev. 
Wilson  is  a  young  man  of  fine  promise. 

GENESEE    CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  September  13,  1849. 
This  was  the  third  offshoot  from  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence, and  was  the  last  Conference  organized  by  Father 
Rush.  He  presided  at  this  Conference  without  an  as- 
sistant. Possibly  the  distance  was  so  great  that  it  was 
not  convenient  for  Bishop  Galbreth  to  be  with  him. 
Ithaca,  the  seat  of  that  Conference,  we  presume,  was  not 
so  easily  reached  in  those  days.  Bishop  Rush  had  one 
Conference  when  he  entered  upon  his  bishopric.  Dur- 
ing his  twenty-four  years  he  added  four,  and  was  able 
to  deliver  five  to  his  successors  when  he  retired. 

The  Genesee  Conference  is  in  the  western  part  of  New 
York,  including  a  few  points  in  northeastern  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  bounds  remain  there  as  fixed  in  1864. 
Very  few  new  points  have  been  added,  because  the  field 
was  pretty  fully  occupied  at  first.  Several  fine  new 
churches  have  been  built  during  the  last  ten  years,  and 
the  membership  has  been  increased,  but  there  is  not  a 
very  large  number  of  our  people  in  that  region.  When  the 
Conference  was  organized  there  were  twelve  preachers 
in  attendance  and  two  lay  delegates.  From  this  it  is 
seen  that  lay  delegates  were  admitted  as  early  as  1849. 
Only  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  members  reported. 
There  was  quite  an  increase  during  that  year,  for  at  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       277 

next  Conference  three  hundred  and  twelve  were  reported. 
This  Conference  was  unfortunate  in  giving  to  the  con- 
nection the  only  bishop  who  was  ever  brought  to  trial 
for  disgraceful  conduct.  We  have  mentioned  his  name 
before ;  we  will  not  repeat  it  here.  The  character,  how- 
ever, of  this  Conference  must  not  be  judged  by  this 
fact.  It  has  produced  and  is  still  producing  men  of  in- 
telligence and  moral  worth.  Besides  the  bishop  who 
was  a  disgrace  this  Conference  also  furnished  one  who 
was  a  man  of  great  distinction,  Bishop  J.  W.  Loguen, 
of  whom  we  have  spoken. 

REV.    J.    W.   LACEV. 

J.  W.  Lacey  was  born  of  slave  parents,  in  Fauquier 
County,  Va.,  1832;  left  the  South  when  a  lad  about 
seventeen  years  of  age,  and  found  his  way  to  the  city 
of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  where  he  was  converted  in  1856, 
joining  the  church  there  under  the  pastorate  of  Rev. 
J.  P.  Clinton.  He  next  came  to  Binghamton,  N.  Y., 
where  he  received .  local  preacher's  license  from  Elder 
William  Sanford  in  1858.  In  1861  he  went  to  Hayti, 
West  Indies,  where  he  received  deacon's  and  elder's 
orders  under  Superintendent  Clingman ;  in  the  same 
year  (1863)  he  was  elected  General  Superintendent. 
During  that  year  the  two  branches  of  Methodists,  Zion 
and  Bethel,  held  a  convention  at  Gro  Mound  and  united 
under  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Discipline. 
Superintendents  Pierce  and  Clingman  resigned  at  this 
convention,  and  he  was  elected  superintendent  of  the 
united  societies  called  Zion,  the  headquarters  being  in 
St.  Marc,  where  they  had  a  fine  church  edifice.      While 


278 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


holding  the  office  of  superintendent  of  Zion  on  the  island 
of  Hayti  he  ordained  S.  S.  Wales  and  Wesley  Youngs 
as  elders,  and  George  Evans  as  deacon,  besides  several 
others.     In  1869  he  returned  to  the  United  States  and 


REV.   J.   W.    LACEY. 

joined  the  Genesee  Conference,  which  convened  in  Wilkes- 
barre,  Pa.,  September  4.  In  1870  Bishop  J.  W.  Loguen 
appointed  him  to  the  Ithaca  charge,  where  he  remained 
four  years  and  repaired  the  church  at  a  cost  of  twelve 
hundred    dollars.       In    1875    he    was    appointed    to    the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       279 

Rochester  charge,  securing  during  his  three  years'  pastor- 
ate twelve  hundred  dollars  on  subscription,  which  amount 
was  collected  by  the  next  pastor  and  put  into  a  new  brick 
church.  September  4,  1877,  Conference  convened  in 
Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  presiding. 
Rev.  Lacey  was  appointed  to  the  Syracuse  charge,  where 
he  paid  off  a  mortgage  of  two  thousand  dollars  and  raised 
five  hundred  dollars  for  improvements,  making  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars  in  that  charge  in  two  years.  In 
1880  he  was  appointed  to  the  Binghamton  charge;  the 
people  were  groaning  under  a  heavy  debt,  and  only  the 
basement  of  their  new  brick  church  completed.  He 
finished  the  auditorium,  and  paid  four  thousand  four  hun- 
dred dollars  in  five  years,  leaving  a  balance  of  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  which  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  of  the 
church  raised  and  paid  since  his  departure.  While 
pastor  there  he  also  secured  a  good  church  for  the  people 
at  Deposit  Station,  valued  at  two  thousand  dollars. 

REV.    JAMES    E.    MASON,    B.D. 

In  the  city  of  Wilkesbarre,   Pa.,   the  subject  of  this 

sketch  was  born.     His  religious  instruction  commenced 

very  early.     He  was  converted  when  about  sixteen  years 

of  age  in  a  revival  during  the  administration  of  Rev.  Isaac 

Stewart,   January,    1876,   and  joined  the  church.     Soon 

after  he  was  elected  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school, 

secretary  of  the  board  of  trustees,  and  May   10,    1876, 

received  local  preacher's  license.     Leaving  the  grammar 

school,  he  pursued  a  special  course  of  study  preparatory 

to  entering  the  Genesee  Conference,  September,  1877,  in 

Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  presiding.     His 
20 


280 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


first  appointment  was  the  Deposit,  Walton,  and  Delhi 
Circuit,  where  he  met  with  unprecedented  success.  His 
youthfulness,  pleasant,  attractive,  and  impressive  address 


REV.   JAMES    E.    MASON,    B.D. 

attracted  the  attention  not  only  of  the  colored  citizens,  but 
thousands  of  whites,  and  in  Walton  and  Delhi,  where  his 
predecessor  failed,  the  largest  white  churches  were  filled 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     28 1 

to  overflowing  to  hear  the  "Boy  Preacher,"  and  his 
services  were  in  constant  demand  throughout  Delaware 
County.  After  the  sudden  demise  of  Rev.  Singleton 
Thompson,  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  he  was  appointed  by 
Bishop  Clinton  to  succeed  him.  While  managing  affairs 
there  successfully,  overcoming  much  prejudice  because 
of  his  youth,  he  organized  a  society  at  Norwich,  N.  Y., 
forty  miles  distant,  and  secured  a  beautiful  frame  church 
valued  at  over  four  thousand  dollars,  debt  two  thousand 
three  hundred  dollars,  formerly  occupied  by  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  denomination  At  the  succeeding 
Conference,  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  September,  1880,  Bishop 
J.  J.  Moore  ordained  him  elder,  he  having  been  ordained 
a  deacon  by  Bishop  Clinton  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  two  years 
before.  Although  hardly  of  age  Bishop  Moore  left  him 
in  charge  (Syracuse,  N.  Y.),  and  he  soon  built  up  the 
largest  congregation  in  the  Conference.  Successful  re- 
vivals were  held  each  year,  and  nearly  two  hundred  per- 
sons were  admitted  into  the  church.  In  the  largest 
revival  one  hundred  and  fifty,  persons  professed  conver- 
sion. Aside  from  meeting  current  expenses  nearly  two 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  for  church  improvements. 
In  1884  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson  appointed  him  to  Ithaca, 
N.  Y.  Here  his  earnest  efforts  met  with  the  usual  suc- 
cess. He  collected  and  paid  nearly  one  thousand  dollars 
in  beautifying  the  church.  He  is  now  spending  his  fourth 
year  as  pastor  in  Rochester,  N.  Y.  During  his  adminis- 
tration the  society  has  doubled  in  membership,  Sunday 
school  increased  to  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  members, 
and  plans  and  specifications  arranged  for  a  new  church 
costing  $10,000. 


282  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

He  has  had  several  calls  to  the  first  churches  in  the 
connection,  but  has  preferred  to  remain  in  the  Genesee 
Conference.  He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  represent  his 
Conference  at  the  General  Conference,  1884,  1888,  1892. 
For  several  years  he  has  been  a  diligent  student.  His 
contributions  to  the  Star  and  Church  Quarterly  have  been 
thoughtful  and  scholarly,  alike  creditable  to  his  Church  and 
race.  The  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Divinity  was  conferred 
upon  him  by  Livingstone  College  in  1893.  He  is  now  en- 
gaged in  preparing  a  history  of  the  Genesee  Conference. 
Young  and  ambitious,  earnest,  diligent,  and  faithful  as 
a  minister  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  bright  future  awaits  him. 

SOUTHERN  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  comparatively  short-lived.  We 
find  it  represented  in  the  General  Conference  in  i860. 
At  a  later  period  its  title  was  changed  and  it  was  called 
the  Baltimore  Conference.  In  1872  it  was  consolidated 
with  the  Philadelphia  Conference  and  called  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore  Conference.  There  is  some  talk 
now  of  dividing  that  Conference  again ;  in  that  case 
the  part  of  the  work  which  was  originally  the  Southern 
Conference  is  likely  to  be  revived  as  the  Washington 
Conference. 

MRS.    BISHOP   J.    W.    HOOD, 
Secretary    Woman  s  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Mrs.  K.  P.  Hood  was  born  in  Wilmington,  N.  C, 
August  10,  1844.  Her  mother  was  a  free  woman,  and 
therefore  she  was  born  free.  She  began  to  learn  to  sew 
at  five  years  of  age,  and  before  she  was  fully  grown  she 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      283 

was  a  first-class  dressmaker.  Her  art  in  dressmaking, 
her  habits  of  industry  and  careful  attention  to  business, 
secured  for  her  most  desirable  customers.  She  was  only 
twenty-one  when  the  war  closed,  and  though  handsome, 
both  in  feature  and  form,  yet  such  was  her  sedateness 


MRS.    BISHOP  J.    W.   HOOD. 

and  her  natural  modesty,  together  with  that  awe  which 
is  inspired  by  the  character  of  a  woman  whose  purity  is 
conspicuous  in  every  line  of  her  face  and  every  motion  of 
her  body,  that  notwithstanding  Wilmington  was  occupied 
by  both  the  Confederate  and  the  Federal  armies,  yet  she 
was  never  once  insulted  during  the  entire  war.  About 
two  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  she  had  saved  a 


284  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

sufficient  amount  of  money  to  pay  for  her  board  and 
tuition  at  St.  Frances  Academy,  Baltimore,  for  some- 
thing more  than  a  year.  She  was  married  in  1871,  but 
her  husband  died  in  about  six  months  after  their  marriage. 
Before  his  death  he  had  bargained  for  a  house  and  lot,  on 
which  he  had  made  a  small  payment.  She  was  unwilling 
to  give  it  up,  and  therefore  undertook  to  pay  for  it,  which 
she  accomplished  with  her  sewing  machine  in  about  four 
years,  sometimes  sewing  all  day  and  most  of  the  night. 
She  has  a  determination  to  go  through  with  what  she 
undertakes  which  knows  no  discouragement,  but  laughs 
at  difficulties  and  pushes  forward.  She  was  married  to 
Bishop  Hood  June  6,  1877.  She  attended  Sabbath 
school  in  the  Episcopal  Church,  was  confirmed  in  that 
Church,  and  was  a  very  devout  member,  having  embraced 
religion  at  a  Methodist  camp  meeting.  After  she  married 
the  bishop  she  thought  it  her  duty  to  join  his  Church, 
which  was  also  her  mother's  Church.  She  has  proven  a 
most  useful  member. 

As  stepmother  she  had  a  most  trying  position.  Begin- 
ning with  four  children,  ranging  from  five  to  eleven 
years,  she  had  to  raise  them  herself,  for  the  bishop  was 
seldom  at  home.  The  children  had  plenty  of  advice  from 
meddlesome  people  who  delighted  in  making  trouble  for 
the  Wilmington  lady.  In  this  trying  position  she  suc- 
ceeded so  well  that  a  stranger  would  never  suspect  that 
the  children  were  not  all  her  own.  She  has  succeeded 
also  in  keeping  them  all  in  the  right  path,  morally  and 
religiously ;  she  has  been  much  more  than  the  ordinary 
mother,  she  has  been  teacher,  guardian,  and  guide.  By 
precept  and  example  she  has  tried  to  impress  upon  them 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       285 

her  own  notions  of  chastity,  of  which  she  is  a  paragon, 
and  she  seems  to  have  been  successful  to  a  large  degree. 

As  Vice  President  of  the  Woman's  Home  and  Foreign 
Missionary  Society  she  has  taken  great  interest  in  the 
mission  cause.  She  was  the  first  lay  member  of  the 
Church  who  contributed  fifty  dollars  toward  Livingstone 
College. 

The  last  General  Conference  honored  Mrs.  Hood  with 
the  position  of  secretary  of  the  Woman's  Home  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society.  She  holds  the  place  with 
reluctance,  because  she  thinks  that  the  secretary  should 
possess  extraordinary  literary  attainments. 

REV.    WILLIAM    J.    MOORE,    D.D. 

William  J.  Moore  was  born  in  Beaufort  County,  N.  C, 
April  4,  1837.  At  twelve  years  of  age  he  took  to  the 
sea  and  endured  hard  sailor's  fare  for  fourteen  years' 
While  on  shore  three  winters  during  this  period  he 
attended  night  school.  He  embraced  religion  in  1855. 
In  1862,  while  sailing  from  the  West  Indies  to  New  York, 
he  was  captured  by  Commander  Lynch,  master  of  a  pri- 
vateer, and  taken  to  his  home  at  Washington,  N.  C. 
Here  for  a  year  he  was  compelled  to  serve  as  cook  for 
the  Tar  River  Navigation  Company.  He  was  licensed 
to  preach  in  August,  1863.  He  was  one  of  the  twelve 
members  who  composed  the  North  Carolina  Conference 
at  its  organization  in  December,  1864,  and  was  ordained 
a  deacon  at  that  session.  During  the  latter  part  of  1864 
and  nearly  the  whole  of  1865  he  was  engaged  with  others 
in  organizing.  Each  of  them  had  charge,  but  were  not 
at  all  confined  to  their  pastoral  work,  for  the  Macedonian 


286 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


cry  was  heard  on  every  hand,  and  the  disciples  scattered 
themselves  as  much  as  they  could  to  meet  the  calls  for 
help.  This  accounts  for  the  rapid  progress  of  the  work 
during  that  year.  As  a  result  of  their  labors  nearly  every 
part  of  the  State  was  represented  at  the  next  Confer- 
ence, and  of  this  work  Brother  Moore  had  done  his  full 

share.  At  the  second 
Conference,  in  1865,  he 
was  ordained  elder  and 
appointed  to  Fayetteville 
Church.  During  this  year 
he  did  a  great  deal  of 
missionary  work  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fayetteville, 
and  brought  up  a  con- 
siderable number  of  candi- 
dates to  the  Conference  in 
1866.  His  next  appoint- 
ment was  Beaufort,  and 
from  there  he  went  to 
Granville  County  and  gave 
Zion  a  good  start  in  that 
Baptist  stronghold.  At 
Salisbury  and  Statesville  he  exceeded  all  his  predeces- 
sors ;  in  fact,  no  man  since  his  day  has  had  the  church  as 
well  in  hand  at  Salisbury  as  he  had  it.  In  Charlotte, 
Wilmington,  and  New  Berne  he  made  a  record  equal  to 
any  man  who  has  had  those  charges.  He  was  Confer- 
ence steward  for  about  seventeen  years.  As  presiding 
elder  no  one  in  the  connection  has  made  a  better  general 
record.     At  the  Annual  Conference  in  1892  the  bishop, 


REV.    W.    J.   MOORE,    D.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       287 

having  heard  a  great  deal  of  clamor  among  the  men  for  a 
change  of  presiding  elders,  had  determined  to  let  Moore 
down ;  but  when  the  delegates  reported  it  was  found  that 
every  church  on  his  district  had  petitioned  for  him.  He 
still  holds  the  position.  He  has  organized  68  congrega- 
tions, built  1 1  churches,  and  improved  many  others  ;  he 
has  licensed  54  local  preachers.  He  was  among  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  paid  a  dollar  a  month  for  nearly  four 
years  to  give  the  Star  of  Zion  a  start.  He  was  also 
among  the  first  to  put  down  fifty  dollars  for  the  institu- 
tion now  so  well  known  as  Livingstone  College,  and  has 
been  from  the  beginning  a  trustee  of  that  institution.  In 
consideration  of  his  great  services  the  faculty  of  that  in- 
stitution recommended  him  to  the  trustees  for  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  D.D.,  which  was  unanimously  conferred. 

REV.   OWEN  L.  W.   SMITH, 

Presiding  Elder  of  the  New  Berne  District,  North  Carolina 

Conference. 

Owen  L.  W.  Smith  was  born  a  slave  in  Giddinsville, 
Sampson  County,  N.  C,  May  18,  185 1.  After  the  war 
he  went  to  New  Berne,  N.  C,  where  he  attended  a 
private  school  for  a  short  while.  Leaving  there  at  about 
sixteen  years  of  age,  he  hired  himself  to  Colonel  C.  W. 
Smith,  an  extensive  farmer  in  Pitt  County,  N.  C,  who 
had  a  school  on  his  farm  for  the  benefit  of  his  employees. 
Owen  took  advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  obtain  the 
rudiments  of  an  education.  He  left  the  farm,  and  after 
drifting  about  for  a  while  he  obtained  a  school  in  South 
Carolina  and  began  to  teach  on  March  20,  1871.  In 
1873   he  was  appointed  magistrate  by  Governor  F.    J. 


288  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Moses.  He  then  began  to  study  law.  In  1874  lie  ob- 
tained a  State  scholarship  and  entered  the  State  Univer- 
sity. After  leaving  the  university  he  continued  to  study 
law  and    teach   school.       He   married  a  good   Christian 


REV.    OWEN    L.    W.    SMITH. 


woman  at  White ville,  N.  C,  on  the  9th  of  April,  1878, 
and  was  converted  at  a  camp  meeting  in  1880.  He 
joined  the  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1881,  and  was 
appointed  to  the  Stantonburg  Circuit.  The  following 
year  he  was  appointed  to  the  Magnolia  Circuit.  He  in- 
creased the  amount  of  general  fund  on  this  circuit  from 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.       289 

$4.80  to  $74.98,  built  three  churches,  and  organized  a 
new  society  at  Faison.  His  next  appointment  was  to 
the  Elizabethtown  Circuit,  from  which  he  made  a  good 
report.  His  next  appointment  was  to  the  Ingold  Circuit, 
on  which  he  labored  three  years.  Here  he  built  four 
churches  and  made  an  increase  on  general  fund  from  $20 
to  $100.  He  had  charge  at  Kinston  one  year,  and  did 
well,  notwithstanding  his  health  was  poor.  After  a  few 
weeks'  service  on  the  Snow  Hill  Circuit,  Cumberland 
County,  he  was  appointed  presiding  elder  of  the  Raleigh 
District.  He  has  great  ambition  and  untiring  energy, 
and  is  truly  loyal  and  devoted  to  the  interests  of  his 
Church.     He  makes  a  good  presiding  elder. 

NORTH  CAROLINA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  December  17,  1864,  by 
Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  There  were  twelve  members,  in- 
cluding the  bishop.  Small  as  was  the  number,  this  Con- 
ference sat  for  more  than  a  week.  It  was,  however, 
more  a  school  than  a  Conference  ;  the  men  were  instructed 
how  to  go  to  work  to  build  up  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Only  three  of  the  twelve  remain,  and  one  of  that  number, 
Rev.  David  Cray,  is  one  hundred  and  seven  years  of  age. 

We  have  spoken  elsewhere  of  the  beginning  of  this  work, 
but  possibly  a  more  extended  statement  may  be  interest- 
ing. The  first  of  the  missionaries  who  arrived  on  this  field 
was  J.  W.  Hood.  He  was  not  the  first  one  appointed; 
John  Williams  was  appointed  early  in  1863,  but  wasted 
several  months  in  getting  ready.  It  was  generally  be- 
lieved that  he  thought  it  not  safe  to  go.  Some  of  the 
members  of  the  Mission  Board  which  had  furnished  the 


29O  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

money  for  his  mission  became  impatient  and  urged 
Bishop  Clinton  to  send  Hood.  As  soon  as  the  bishop 
learned  that  he  was  willing  to  go  he  sent  his  appoint- 
ment. Hood  received  the  appointment  about  the  middle 
of  December,  1863  ;  by  the  1st  of  January  he  had  moved 
his  family  to  Washington  City,  and  was  on  his  way  to  his 
new  field  of  labor.  But  there  was  so  much  ice  in  the  bay 
that  the  Norfolk  boats  had  to  lay  up.  There  was  a  thaw 
about  the  middle  of  January,  and  on  the  20th  of  that 
month  he  arrived  in  New  Berne.  He  found  the  Metho- 
dist church  there  in  much  confusion.  Bishop  Baker,  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  had  sent  Rev.  J.  E. 
Round  to  New  Berne  in  1862,  and  he  had  succeeded  in 
getting  the  colored  Methodist  church,  known  as  Andrew 
Chapel,  to  accept  his  services,  with  the  purpose  of  tak- 
ing it  into  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Some 
time  in  the  year  1863  a  young  white  man  by  the  name 
of  Fitz,  who  was  a  Congregationalist,  got  in  with  our 
people,  first  as  a  Sabbath  school  teacher,  then  as  an  ex- 
horter,  and  finally  obtained  license  from  Round  to  preach. 
His  object  was  to  supplant  Round  in  the  hearts  of  the 
people  and  then  make  it  a  Congregationalist  Church. 
In  this  he  was  backed  by  Chaplain  James,  a  congrega- 
tionalist minister,  who  was  Superintendent  of  Negro 
Affairs.  When  Round  found  that  Fitz  had  some  influ- 
ence he  thought  the  best  way  for  him  to  utilize  it  was  to 
appoint  Fitz  as  pastor  and  to  act  himself  as  presiding 
elder.  By  this  means  he  kept  the  people  quiet  so  long 
as  there  was  no  one  there  representing  a  colored  organiza- 
tion. Though  quiet  they  were  not  satisfied ;  they  had 
heard  of  old  Zion  Church  in  New  York,  and  of  Bishop 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       29 1 

Rush,  who  was  a  native  of  New  Berne.  They  had  heard, 
too,  that  a  missionary  from  that  church  had  been  appointed 
to  look  after  them.  There  were  about  three  factions  in 
the  church.  There  were  some  who  preferred  Round 
to  Fitz  because  he  was  a  Methodist,  and  they  were  satis- 
fied that  Fitz  was  only  a  Methodist  for  a  purpose.  There 
were  some  who  preferred  Fitz  to  Round  because  he  knew 
better  how  to  play  a  "part"  with  Negroes  than  Round 
did,  but  was  much  less  honest.  Then  there  were  some 
who  did  not  want  either  Round  or  Fitz.  It  can  very 
easily  be  understood  that  a  church  in  this  confused  state 
could  accomplish  but  very  little  for  the  Master. 

On  the  same  day  that  Hood  arrived  in  New  Berne  two 
preachers  from  Norfolk,  representing  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  also  arrived.  This  increased  the 
confusion.  But  it  soon  became  evident  that,  so  far  as 
the  colored  people  were  concerned,  the  two  white  men 
were  not  considered.  The  contest  was  between  the  two 
colored  organizations.  The  smallpox  was  raging  and 
the  churches  were  closed  by  military  order.  But  the  two 
delegates  from  Norfolk  spent  the  time  from  Wednesday 
till  Sunday  in  making  a  canvass  from  house  to  house. 
Hood  was  taken  sick  on  Thursday,  the  21st,  and  was  un- 
able to  get  out  till  Sunday.  Several  of  the  leading  breth- 
ren of  the  church  called  on  him,  however,  and  he  thus 
learned  the  stories  which  the  men  from  Norfolk  were  tell- 
ing. He  learned  that  they  had  told  many  things  which  he 
knew  they  would  not  be  able  to  stand  to  in  his  presence. 
•  Sunday  came,  and,  although  public  worship  had  been 
forbidden,  yet  it  was  thought  that  there  would  be  no  ob- 
jection to  a  meeting  of  the  official  board,  which  numbered 


292  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

about  forty  members.  They  met  in  a  private  school- 
house  belonging  to  the  wife  of  one  of  the  members  of 
the  official  board,  namely,  Joseph  Green.  The  brethren 
from  Norfolk  were  permitted  to  speak  first.  Hood  called 
their  attention  to  several  things  which  he  had  heard  of 
their  saying  which  they  had  omitted  in  his  presence. 
As  they  were  not  prepared  to  make  good  their  statement, 
wildly  spoken,  he  had  them  at  a  disadvantage,  and  by 
several  skillfully  put  questions  about  the  connection,  of 
which  they  knew  but  little,  he  made  it  appear  that  they 
knew  less  about  their  own  connection  than  he  did,  and 
that  they  knew  of  their  own  personal  knowledge  abso- 
lutely nothing  about  his  connection,  as  they  had  never 
been  north  of  Norfolk.  The  result  was  that  after  Hood 
and  the  men  from  Norfolk  retired  the  official  board 
voted  unanimously  to  unite  with  Zion.  The  fare  of  the 
other  two  brethren  was  paid  back  to  Norfolk,  and  they 
were  requested  to  return  at  once  and  make  no  further 
effort.  To  this  they  agreed.  This,  however,  was  not 
the  end  of  the  contest.  Both  Round  and  Fitz  were  still 
on  the  ground  and  disposed  to  contend  for  what  they 
claimed  were  their  rights.  Fitz,  as  a  local  preacher,  was 
easily  disposed  of.  He  was  informed  that  the  Quarterly 
Conference  had  the  power  to  revoke  his  license,  and  that 
his  continuing  to  hold  license  depended  on  his  good  be- 
havior. This  put  a  stop  to  his  open  fight,  but,  with  « 
the  assistance  of  Chaplain  James  (the  Superintendent  of 
Negro  Affairs),  he  did  a  deal  of  secret  work.  Among 
other  things  he  went  to  the  commandant  of  the  post  and 
tried  to  have  Hood  driven  out  of  the  department  by 
charging  him  with  having  held  a  religious  meeting  con- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       293 

trary  to  military  orders.  Hood  was  sent  for ;  his  papers 
were  examined,  and  when  it  was  found  that  he  had  a 
pass  from  General  B.  F.  Butler  granting  him  extraordi- 
nary privileges  he  was  told  that  he  was  fortunate  and  all 
right.  He  noticed  that  from  that  time  the  officers  ap- 
peared strangely  partial  to  him,  but  not  till  some  time 
after  the  close  Of  the  war  did  he  learn  why  he  had  been 
sent  for  and  had  his  papers  examined,  nor  why  he  had  been 
dismissed  with  words  of  encouragement.  Soon  after  the 
war,  however,  Fitz  and  one  of  his  accomplices  fell  out, 
and  then  Hood  learned  the  whole  secret. 

Fitz  could  do  nothing  but  plot  in  secret,  but  Round 
was  not  so  easily  disposed  of.  Hood  had  the  people,  but 
Round  claimed  to  have  authority  from  Bishop  Baker  to 
take  charge  of  any  Methodist  church  within  the  Union 
lines  whose  pastor  had  gone  with  the  rebels,  and  that 
Bishop  Baker's  action  was  based  upon  authority  from  the 
Secretary  of  War.  The  claims  of  each  side  were  care- 
fully prepared  by  Round  and  Hood,  and  were  sent  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  through  General  Butler's  headquarters. 
General  Butler  examined  the  papers  and  presented  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  his  own  view  of  the  case.      He  said : 

"  So  far  as  I  am  informed  both  Hood  and  Round  are  regularly  ordained 
ministers,  and  are  both  men  of  good  character.  The  point  at  issue  is, 
shall  a  congregation  of  colored  people,  who  have  owned  their  church  and 
worshiped  in  it  for  twenty-five  years,  have  the  right  to  elect  their  own  pas- 
tor, or  are  they  compelled  to  have  a  pastor  forced  upon  them  by  Bishop 
Baker's  delegate  ?  There  is  an  old  Church  maxim  that  a  bishop  cannot 
delegate  his  power." 

The  Secretary  of  War  simply  wrote  under  this : 

"  The  congregation  worshiping  in  Andrew  Chapel  are  permitted  to  select 
their  own  pastor.  E.  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War." 


294  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  papers  were  sent  up  about  the  ist  of  February, 
but  it  was  near  the  middle  of  March  before  the  answer 
came  from  Secretary  Stanton.  During  the  interim  Hood 
went  to  Beaufort  and  received  the  church  at  that  point 
into  the  connection.  Round  claimed  this  church  also 
under  Bishop  Baker's  authority,  as  also  all  the  other 
churches  in  that  section  within  the  Union  lines ;  and  if 
the  case  at  New  Berne  had  been  settled  in  his  favor 
Hood  would  have  been  shut  out  completely  from  that 
department.  Round  therefore  paid  but  little  attention 
to  Hood's  movements ;  the  result  was  that  by  the  time 
the  question  at  New  Berne  was  settled  Hood  had  the 
whole  of  the  three  thousand  members  which  Round 
claimed,  except  about  fifty  in  New  Berne,  who  held  out 
for  a  time,  but  finally  came  to  Zion.  About  the  time 
that  the  decision  came  from  the  Secretary  of  War  the 
smallpox  had  so  much  abated  that  it  was  considered  safe 
to  open  the  church.  It  is  possible  that  the  prohibition 
was  purposely  continued  until  the  contest  was  over.  As 
soon  as  the  secretary's  decision  reached  New  Berne 
Hood  was  informed  of  it.  All  the  papers  were  sent  to 
him,  and  he  was  also  informed  that  the  church  might  be 
opened  for  service  on  Easter  Sunday.  During  the  week 
preceding  Easter  Sunday  the  church  was  whitewashed 
and  put  in  good  order.  Hood  took  the  pains  to  have  it 
announced  that  he  would  preach  on  Easter  Sunday,  even 
before  Round  knew  of  the  decision.  Hood  was  also 
early  in  the  pulpit,  as  he  knew  that  he  who  has  posses- 
sion has  nine  points  in  law.  The  official  board  had  de- 
cided to  come  to  Zion,  but  the  congregation  was  yet 
to  be  heard   from.     It  was  a  beautiful  spring  Sabbath 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      295 

morning,  and  a  beautiful  spring  morning  in  New  Berne 
is  hardly  excelled  anywhere  under  the  sun.  The  occa- 
sion was  great ;  a  preacher  had  come  to  serve  his  own 
race,  a  new  thing  under  the  sun.  Besides  this  was  the 
fact  that  his  claims  were  disputed  by  a  white  man,  and 
the  question  was  to  be  decided  by  themselves.  The 
black  preacher  had  already  become  their  hero  by  secur- 
ing to  them  the  right  to  decide  for  themselves.  He  had 
spent  two  weeks  in  Washington,  D.  C,  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, visiting  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  War  in 
their  interest,  and  his  mission  had  proved  successful, 
of  which  fact  he  would  that  day  give  full  evidence  by 
papers  from  him.  The  church  was  packed,  and  the 
street  in  front  of  the  church  was  full  of  people ;  the  con- 
gregation outside  was  nearly  as  large  as  that  within. 
The  preacher  had  spent  several  days  in  prayer  to  meet 
the  occasion.  He  was  certainly  never  better  prepared  to 
preach  than  on  that  occasion.  He  took  for  his  text  Matt, 
xxviii,  6,  "  He  is  not  here:  for  he  is  risen,  as  he  said. 
Come,  see  the  place  where  the  Lord  lay." 

The  presence  of  the  Lord  filled  the  house,  and  the 
people  were  truly  joyful.  At  the  close  of  the  service  the 
papers  from  the  Secretary  of  War  were  read,  and  his 
decision.  The  question  was  put  to  the  house,  and  the 
congregation  unanimously  agreed  to  unite  with  Zion  Con- 
nection and  to  accept  the  minister  who  had  been  sent  to 
them. 

Round  gave  up  the  contest,  and  he  and  Hood  have  con- 
tinued friendly  up  to  the  present  time.  But  Fitz  continued 
the  fight,  not  on  Hood,  but  on  his  flock.  Through  Chap- 
lain James  he  represented  to  General  Butler  that  there 
21 


296  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

were  thousands  of  idle  Negroes  in  New  Berne  who  might 
be  profitably  employed  on  the  Dutch  Gap  Canal.  General 
Butler,  not  suspecting  any  wicked  design,  ordered  that 
they  should  be  sent  to  that  work,  but  was  careful  to  re- 
quire that  no  one  should  be  taken  who  had  a  visible  means 
of  support,  nor  anyone  who  was  not  able-bodied  and  pos- 
sessed all  his  members.  Notwithstanding  this  Fitz  gave 
in  the  names  of  nearly  all  the  leading  members  of  Andrew 
Chapel,  including  men  who  were  making  as  high  as  five 
dollars  a  day,  and  also  four  class  leaders  who  were  each 
blind  of  one  eye  and  possibly  fifty  years  of  age.  All  of 
these  class  leaders  he  succeeded  in  getting  away  before 
their  friends  could  intercede  for  them.  Hood  went  to 
General  Palmer,  commandant  of  the  post,  and  secured 
the  release  of  most  of  his  official  members  and  some 
others.  On  one  occasion  he  had  to  go  to  General  Palmer's 
house  at  nine  o'clock  at  night,  and  as  he  could  not  pass 
the  sentinel  by  the  front  door  he  was  let  in  the  back  way 
by  the  general's  body  servant.  As  the  boat  was  to  leave 
that  night  General  Palmer  took  a  lantern  and  went  down 
to  the  landing.  Chaplain  James  was  superintending  in 
person  ;  he  assured  General  Palmer  upon  his  honor  that 
the  man  he  was  looking  for  was  not  aboard.  But  just  at 
that  moment  the  man  hallooed  out,  "  Yes,  I  am  on  here, 
and  I  want  to  get  off."  General  Palmer  turned  on  Chap- 
lain James  and  gave  him  such  a  tongue-lashing  that  Zion's 
members  were  safe  from  that  time  till  the  war  closed. 
He  said  to  the  chaplain  in  conclusion,  "  See  to  it  that  I 
hear  no  more  complaints." 

In  May,  1864,  Bishop  Clinton  arrived  in  New  Berne. 
Great  was  the  joy  of  the  people  at  being  permitted  to  see 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       297 

a  bishop  of  their  own  race,  and  especially  a  bishop  who 
was  willing  to  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might 
by  all  means  gain  some.  Bishop  Clinton  had  no  hide- 
bound notions ;  whatever  was  necessary  for  the  success  of 
the  Church  he  was  ready  to  do.  At  his  suggestion  several 
persons  were  licensed  to  preach,  most  of  whom  made  suc- 
cessful preachers. 

At  the  first  Conference  the  work  reported  covered  only 
that  small  portion  of  the  State  which  was  then  occupied 
by  the ,  Union  forces,  including  Roanoke  Island,  New 
Berne,  Beaufort,  and  the  small  strip  of  country  lying 
between  New  Berne  and  Beaufort.  But  the  close  of  the 
war  the  following  May  opened  up  the  whole  State,  and 
each  of  the  ministers  who  attended  the  first  Conference 
did  what  he  could  to  spread  the  work. 

Elder  E.  H.  Hill  went  as  far  west  as  Charlotte  and 
organized  the  church  called  Clinton  Chapel.  He  licensed 
Bird  Hampton  Taylor,  and  put  him  in  charge  of  the  church. 
He  came  to  Conference  that  year,  and  Bishop  Clinton  was 
so  well  pleased  with  him  that  he  ordained  him  deacon  in 
the  morning  and  elder  in  the  afternoon,  and  sent  him  back 
to  Charlotte.  He  went  back  so  happy  that  he  just 
preached  himself  to  death.  He  not  only  cared  for  and 
built  up  the  church  at  Charlotte,  but  also  went  out  in 
every  direction  and  organized  churches.  He  stopped 
not  at  the  state  line,  but  extended  his  efforts  into  South 
Carolina  to  the  distance  of  fifty  miles.  It  is  quite  safe  to 
say  that  he  formed  the  nucleus  of  as  many  as  twenty 
churches.  He  did  not  live  to  finish  his  year's  work,  but 
while  he  was  at  it  he  did  more  than  many  a  preacher  has 
done  in  ten  years.     The  work  was  extended  eastward  to 


298  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Edenton  and  Elizabeth  City,  and  several  men  were 
licensed  who  organized  extensively  in  that  section. 

Jeffrey  Overton  showed  a  license  which  he  received  in 
1 83 1,  the  year  of  Nat  Turner's  insurrection,  after  which 
time  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  refused  to  renew 
the  license  of  colored  preachers.  J.  W.  Hood,  therefore, 
had  the  pleasure  of  renewing  in  1865  licenses  which  had 
not  been  renewed  since  the  year  that  he  was  born. 

Thomas  Henderson  was  also  one  of  the  early  organizers 
who  did  wonderful  work.  He  organized  many  of  the 
churches  in  the  vicinity  of  Salisbury.  After  doing  mis- 
sionary work  for  two  or  three  years  he  was  appointed  to 
the  church  at  Fayetteville,  where  hundreds  were  con- 
verted by  his  labors.  From  there  he  went  to  New  Berne, 
where  he  died  in  the  midst  of  a  glorious  work. 

Rev.  William  H.  Pitts  came  to  this  Conference  in  1865, 
and  organized  several  churches  in  Edgecombe,  Pitt,  and 
Martin  Counties. 

Rev.  G.  B.  Farmer  was  also  among  the  early  preachers, 
and  made  his  mark.  The  St-.  Luke  Church  in  Wilmington 
was  commenced  under  his  pastorate.  He  held  the  pas- 
toral charge  at  both  New  Berne  and  Fayetteville,  which 
were  regarded  then  as  the  most  important  stations  in  the 
State.     He  was  among  the  strong  men  of  his  day. 

Rev.  Daniel  C.  Blacknell  was  also  a  successful  organ- 
izer and  among  the  best  and  most  useful  men  of  his  day. 
He  was  greatly  respected  by  the  white  people  as  well  as 
by  his  own  race. 

The  North  Carolina  Conference  and  those  Conferences 
which  have  been  set  off  by  it  have  always  shown  a  larger 
proportion  of  members  to  the  number  of  ministers  than 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       299 

other  Southern  Conferences.  The  reason  for  this  is 
that  in  these  Conferences  the  New  England  idea  has  been 
followed,  which  sets  a  high  standard  for  the  reception  of 
ministers.  In  1882  the  East  Alabama  Conference  had 
140  ministers  and  14,000  members,  or  100  members  to 
each  minister.  The  Central  North  Carolina  Conference 
had  100  ministers  and  20,000  members,  or  200  members 
to  each  minister.  Four  Conferences  have  been  set  off  by 
the  North  Carolina  Conference,  as  follows:  The  Tennes- 
see, Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Central  North  Carolina. 
Out  of  the  Central  North  Carolina  the  Western  North  Car- 
olina has  been  formed ;  out  of  the  South  Carolina  the 
Palmetto  has  been  formed ;  and  out  of  the  Tennessee  Con- 
ference the  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  and  the  East 
Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina;  and  out  of  the 
West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi,  the  South  Mississippi, 
making  in  all  nine  Conferences  that  have  sprung  from 
the  North  Carolina  Conference.  The  territory  embraced 
in  these  Conferences  (excepting  Tennessee)  formed  the 
Third  Episcopal  District  for  several  years,  and  has  for  the 
last  ten  years  raised  fully  one  half  of  all  the  general  fund 
raised  by  the  entire  connection.  The  sons  of  the  Carolina 
Conferences  are  scattered  all  over  the  connection,  and  are 
everywhere  making  their  mark.  The  roll  of  the  North 
Carolina  Conference  is  as  follows : 

Presiding  Bishop,  C.  R.  Harris,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elders,  Revs.  W.  J.  Moore,  F.  K.  Bird,  D.  T. 
Mitchel,  John  Hooper,  O.  L.  W.  Smith,  L.  R.  Ferrebee, 
Secretary,*  W.  A.  F.  Moore,  Assistant  Secretary. 

Elders,  Revs.  H.  J.  Blanks,  William  Badger,  C.  Camp- 
*  Deceased. 


300  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

bell,  J.  L.  Cole,  B.  K.  Elliby,  W.  H.  Graham,  J.  N. 
Rasberry,  J.  H.  Steward,  I.  B.  Williams,  Harmon  Par- 
merly,  Steward  McKoy,  A.  M.  Moore,  A.M.  ;  W.  A. 
Keyes,  S.  H.  McKoy,  H.  C.  Phillips,  R.  McKinsey,  W. 
H.  Wilder,  W.  J.  Solomon,  J.  C.  Price,*  H.  C.  Harrison, 
J.  S.  Henderson,  E.  Morten,  A.  R.  McKoy,  T.  H.  Lovick, 
P.  W.  Lawrence,  E.  D.  Jones,  John  Mosely,  A.  G.  Smith, 
Hubbard  Bell,  E.  A.  Carroll,  J.  W.  L.  Council,  A.  T. 
Dove,  J.  Ii.  T.  V.  Gray,  F.  B.  House,  William  Sutton, 
E.  Williams,  J.  W.  Jacobs,  S.  I.  Turner,  A.  Mclver,  G. 
W.  Lomax,  Joshua  Nelson,  N.  L.  Overton,  E.  S.  W. 
Simmons,  D.  L.  Maultsby,  R.  Spruell,  C.  K.  Smith,  R. 
S.  Rieves,  S.  B.  Hunter,  A.  F.  Moore,  J.  H.  Mitchel, 
W.  W.  Lewis,  J.  W.  Levey,  D.  L.  Johnson,  L.  B.  Wil- 
liams, L.  R.  Jefferson,  Lewis  Williams. 

Superannuated,  Revs.  C.  Kelly,  C.  F.  Moore,  David 
Cray,  F.  B.  Moore,  Peter  McNatt,  Godfrey  Caraway. 

Deacons,  Revs.  H.  W.  Farrior,  W.  A.  Hall,  W.  H.  Mc- 
Koy, B.  J.  Hill,  S.  M.  Lloyd,  C.  T.  Simmons,  T.  H. 
Hicks,  T.  C.  Battle,  E.  W.  Pritchard,  R.  Culbreth,  A. 
B.  Joyner,  H.  Whitley,  Joseph  Moore,  Joseph  Keyes, 
T.  D.  Flarrison,  J.  E.  Hussey,  W.  W.  Lee,  J.  M.  D. 
Hill,  B.  D.  Mclver,  T.  F.  Shepherd,  G.  W.  Turner, 
David  Drake,  T.  H.  Hall,  P.  A.  Swindall,  J.  B.  Smith,  L. 
B.  Blackledge,  Amos  Parker,  Stanly  Boyd,  J.  T.  Tarbor. 

Local  Deacons,  Revs.  H.  S.  Jones,  Mingo  Alexander, 
Brister  Harris,  Lewis  H.  Bryant,  O.  T.  Salters,  Fayton 
Taylor,  William  Williams. 

Preachers  in  Full  Connection,  T.  H.  Herring,  A.  M.  Mar- 
tin, H.  D.  Jones. 

*  Deceased. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       3OI 

Preachers  on  Trial  Second  Year,  James  Tucker,  Lot 
Green,  J.  H.  Mosely,  John  Morris,  N.  W.  McMillen, 
Hector  Smith. 

Preachers  on  Trial  First  Year,  W.  J.  McCall,  R.  G.  Smith, 
J.  E.  Morris,  H.  Smith. 

This  Conference  has  furnished  the  connection  three 
bishops,  as  follows:  Thomas  H.  Lomax,  of  Fayetteville, 
N.  C,  consecrated  in  1876  at  Louisville,  Ky. ;  C.  C. 
Pettey,  of  Wilkes  County,  N.  C,  and  C.  R.  Harris,  of 
Fayetteville,  N.  C,  consecrated  at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  1888. 

REV.    ROBERT  HARRISON    SIMMONS,    D.D. 

Robert  Harrison  Simmons  was  born  in  Duplin  County, 
N.  C,  April  14,  1839.  His  father's  name  was  Briten 
Aldredge,  a  slave ;  his  mother's  name  was  Drusilla 
Simmons,  and  was  freeborn.  His  father  and  mother  fled 
with  their  children  to  Cumberland  County  to  prevent  the 
white  people  from  having  them  bound  out.  They  were 
left  in  the  care  of  their  grandmother,  who  could  read, 
and  it  was  her  pleasure  to  teach  her  grandchildren.  Rev. 
Simmons  first  felt  the  workings  of  the  Holy  Spirit  when 
quite  young,  and  joined  the  Old  Fleehill  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church,  six  miles  east  of  Fayetteville,  when  about 
fifteen  years  old,  but  made  no  open  profession  of  religion 
until  1870.  He  had  been  a  member  of  Evans  Chapel 
before  conversion ;  joined  this  church  while  Rev.  G.  W. 
Price  was  pastor ;  was  converted  while  filling  four  public 
offices:  school  committeeman,  deputy  sheriff,  jailer,  and 
justice  of  the  peace.  Simmons  was  impressed  to  read  the 
Bible  to  the  prisoners  on  Sabbath  days.  It  was  while  read- 
ing the  word  of  God  to  his  prisoners  that  his  own  sinful 


302 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


heart  was  melted  and  he  felt  the  need  of  the  blessed  Sav- 
iour's love  and  pardon  for  his  many  sins.  In  the  year  1 870 
he  found  the  Lord  in  a  quiet  meeting  conducted  by  the 
pastor,  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Henderson,  in  Old  Evans  Chapel, 
Fayette ville.  After  doing  much  work  in  the  Church  before 
and  after  conversion  he  was  licensed  to  exhort  May  22, 


REV.    ROBERT    HARRISON    SIMMONS,    D.D. 


1872.  It  was  Simmons,  in  connection  with  others,  that 
prevented  Rev.  G.  W.  Price  from  taking  Evans  Chapel 
out  of  Zion  Connection.  Price  was  appointed  to  the 
Lumberton  work  from  the  Annual  Conference  by  Bishop 
Moore ;  he  (Price)  was  determined  to  remain  in  charge 
of  the  church  in  Fayette  ville.  Returning  from  Confer- 
ence he  called  the  trustees  together  on  Sabbath  after- 
noon and  got  them  to  agree  to  keep  him  as  their  pastor 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       303 

instead  of  Henderson,  who  had  just  been  assigned  to 
the  work.  Simmons  informed  Brother  D.  A.  Bryant, 
the  chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees,  of  Rev.  Price's 
plans  to  take  the  church  and  people  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South  or  North.  Brother  Bryant 
recalled  the  trustees  on  the  same  Sabbath,  changed 
Rev.  Price's  plans,  and  let  him  go  at  once.  Rev.  Price 
claimed  that  the  bishop  and  Conference  had  treated  him 
unjustly. 

Rev.  Henderson  took  charge  of  the  church  and  every- 
thing was  working  well.  Very  soon  Rev.  K.  O.  Burton, 
a  white  preacher  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  came  as  an  agent  to  take  the  church  out  of  Zion 
and  turn  it  over  to  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  But  Rev.  Henderson  and  people  prevented  him 
from  explaining  his  intention  in  the  church.  It  was  an 
exciting  time.  The  white  people  feared  that  the  colored 
people  would  burn  the  church  and  endanger  the  property 
of  the  town.  A  wealthy  white  man,  whose  name  was  A. 
W.  Steel,  sent  for  Simmons  and  asked  him  to  stop  the 
Negroes,  for  he  was  afraid  that  they  would  burn  the  town. 
Simmons  saw  his  chance,  and  said  to  Steel  that  he  could  not 
stop  the  colored  people  when  the  whites  were  trying  to  take 
their  church  that  they  had  paid  for  while  in  slavery.  At 
this  remark  of  Simmons  he  was  informed  by  Mr.  Steel 
that  he  as  a  white  man  and  a  Methodist  would  prevent 
any  further  attempt  to  take  the  church.  This  agreement 
has  never  been  broken.  Simmons  was  granted  a  local 
preacher's  license  by  the  Quarterly  Conference  in  the  fall 
of  1872,  and  joined  the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference 
at  Fayetteville  in  November  of  the  same  year.     He  was 


304  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Hood,  in  Fayetteville, 
N.  C,  December,  1872,  and  served  Evans  Chapel  under 
Rev.  J.  A.  Tyler,  one  year.  In  connection  with  his  work 
in  the  home  church  he  organized  a  church  seventeen 
miles  west  of  Fayetteville,  named  St.  John.  It  is  now  a 
strong  church.  The  next  year  he  asked  his  bishop  to 
give  him  an  appointment  away  from  home.  The  Annual 
Conference  met  in  the  city  of  Wilmington  in  1873,  and 
Bishop  Hood  appointed  Simmons  to  the  Dudley  Circuit, 
in  the  county  of  Wayne.  He  built  a  church  at  Dudley, 
and  bought  the  land  on  which  to  build  Wesley  and  St. 
John's  churches  on  the  same  circuit.  In  1874  the  Annual 
Conference  convened  in  Newbern,  N.  C. ;  Simmons  was 
ordained  elder  by  Bishop  Hood  and  sent  back  to  the 
Dudley  work.  He  was  also  made  Presiding  Elder  over 
the  following  circuits:  Clinton,  Magnolia,  and  Duplin. 
From  the  Annual  Conference  held  in  Concord  he  was  sent 
to  Washington,  N.  C,  to  Farmer's  Temple,  and  served 
this  church  for  three  years  with  continued  success.  He 
completed  the  church  and  entertained  the  North  Carolina 
Annual  Conference  in  1875.  The  membership  increased 
nearly  twofold  in  three  years,  the  entire  indebtedness  was 
paid  off,  and  he  received  a  living  salary.  He  was  also 
principal  of  the  Graded  School  at  a  salary  of  forty  dollars 
per  month.  The  white  citizens  sent  a  petition  to  the 
bishop  and  Conference  asking  for  the  return  of  Rev.  Sim- 
mons the  fourth  year.  The  church  also  made  a  strong  plea 
for  his  return,  but  the  bishop  sent  him  to  Goldsborough, 
N.  C.  Goldsborough  at  that  time  was  considered  a  pastor's 
spiritual  graveyard.  But,  to  the  surprise  of  all  concerned, 
the  Lord  very  soon  gave  him  the  people  in  a  grand  revival 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       305 

of  religion,  and  more  than  one  hundred  souls  were  added 
to  Zion.  The  people  wanted  Simmons  to  remain  the 
second  year,  but  Bishop  Hood  said,  "No,  I  want  him 
for  Salisbury,  as  the  church  there  is  a  little  off,  spirit- 
ually." From  the  Annual  Conference  held  in  Lincolnton, 
1879,  he  was  appointed  to  Salisbury,  N.  C.  There  he 
found  a  fine  people,  but  very  hard  to  move  spiritually. 
He  had  less  success  there  in  one  year  building  up  the 
church  than  in  any  other  charge ;  added  only  about  forty 
members  to  the  church,  but  increased  the  general  fund 
considerably.  At  the  close  of  the  Conference  year  the 
people  petitioned  the  bishop  and  Conference  for  his  re- 
turn, but  he  was  made  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Fayette- 
ville  District.  He  served  the  district  four  years  with 
success,  assisting  the  pastors  in  their  spiritual  and  finan- 
cial work,  building  and  repairing  churches,  etc.  The 
churches  built  during  the  four  years  are  as  follows: 
Manchester,  Jonesboro,  Oak  Grove,  Long  Ridge,  Nor- 
rington,  Beaver  Creek,  Egypt,  New  Zion,  Zion  Grove, 
Orr  Hill,  Mount  Olive,  Mount  Zion,  and  Hood's  Chapel 
(commenced). 

He  was  next  appointed  by  Bishop  Jones  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Wadesboro  District.  Here  he  met  another 
fine  class  of  people  and  pastors,  who  gave  him  their  co- 
operation in  building  up  the  churches  and  work  on  all 
lines.  They  built  several  new  churches  during  the  four 
years,  namely,  Marven,  Centenary,  Forestville,  New  Zion, 
Anson ville,  Mount  Airy,  Pleasant  Hill,  Luther,  Good- 
win's, Gibson's,  St.  Matthew's,  Laurinburg,  and  Kyzer's 
Chapel.  Many  souls  were  converted  and  added  to  the 
churches ;  the  general  fund  and  pastor's  salary  increased 


306  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

annually.  The  pastors  and  membership  petitioned  the 
bishop  and  Annual  Conference  to  reappoint  him  for  the 
fifth  year,  but  Bishop  Moore  saw  fit  to  send  him  back  to 
the  Fayetteville  District  as  presiding  elder,  where  he 
served  for  one  year  and  a  half.  Thus  he  had  served  for 
ten  years  and  a  half  as  presiding  elder.  In  the  month 
of  May,  1890,  Rev.  J.  B.  Small  resigned  his  pastoral 
charge  of  St.  Luke's  Church,  Wilmington,  N.  C.  Bishop 
Thompson,  the  presiding  bishop  of  the  North  Carolina 
Conference,  came  to  Fayetteville  in  company  with  Bishop 
Hood  and  thought  it  best  for  Rev.  Simmons  to  give  up 
his  district  as  presiding  elder  and  take  a  transfer  to  the 
North  Carolina  Conference,  that  he  might  put  him  in 
charge  of  St.  Luke's  Church.  After  consideration  he 
accepted  the  Wilmington  church,  after  the  bishop  had 
brought  the  matter  before  the  membership,  they  agree- 
ing to  ask  the  bishop  to  appoint  him.  He  had  grand 
success  in  bringing  the  scattering  members  back  to  the 
fold,  three  hundred  and  sixteen  joining  the  church  dur- 
ing the  two  years  and  a  half  he  was  in  charge.  The 
church  was  in  debt,  but  before  the  Annual  Conference 
nearly  every  dollar  had  been  paid,  and  more  than  $100 
in  bank.  The  pastor  was  paid  in  full  each  year  before 
he  left  for  the  Annual  Conference. 

Having  raised  the  general  fund  to  $265,  and  the  Sab- 
bath school  and  church  having  $775  in  the  treasury,  he 
thought  it  a  fitting  time  to  leave  the  charge.  So  he 
asked  Bishop  Harris  not  to  send  him  back  another  year. 
Just  as  his  time  expired  at  Wilmington,  Bishop  Moore 
asked  him  to  take  a  transfer  to  the  Western  North  Caro- 
lina Conference  and  to  take  charge  of  Clinton  Chapel, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       307 

Charlotte,  N.  C,  which  he  did  after  prayerful  meditation 
and  consultation  with  Bishop  Lomax  and  others.  He 
came  to  the  Conference  at  Hickory  with  his  transfer, 
and  received  the  appointment  to  Clinton  Chapel.  An  at- 
tempt was  made  to  take  the  church  out  of  Zion,  but  the 
rebellious  parties  were  met  by  Rev.  Simmons  at  every 
point  of  civil  or  ecclesiastical  law.  Failing  to  take  the 
church,  their  next  move  was  to  run  the  pastor  away 
by  misrepresentations  and  slander,  but  in  this  they  also 
failed. 

He  has  been  the  Annual  Conference  Steward  for 
twelve  years ;  first  in  the  Central  Conference,  then  in 
the  North  Carolina  and  now  Western  North  Carolina  Con- 
ferences. He  has  been  twice  married ;  his  first  wife  was 
Miss  Francis  A.  Pettifoot,  of  Fayetteville.  His  present 
wife  was  Miss  Julia  A.  Covington,  of  Rockingham,  both 
estimable  Christian  ladies. 

REV.    F.    K.    BIRD. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  Franklin  Kesler  Bird,  was 
born  December  1,  1856,  at  Rutherfordton,  N.  C.  He  was 
the  only  child  of  his  father,  William  Bird,  who  died 
when  young  Franklin  was  two  years  of  age.  He  and  his 
mother,  Mary  Martha,  lived  with  his  grandfather,  the 
"Blacksmith,"  Wylie  Morris,  until  1867,  when  his 
mother  was  married  to  Cain  Gross. 

By  early  industry  and  economy  Wylie  Morris  succeeded 
in  purchasing  his  freedom  for  $2,000,  and  marrying  a  free- 
born  woman.  All  of  Franklin's  relatives  were  freeborn, 
and  strict  members  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  until  after  the  close  of  the  war,  when  they  con- 


3o8 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


nected  themselves  with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church,  which  remains  the  choice  of  the  family. 
Young  Franklin  connected  himself  with  the  Church  of 
which  he  is  now  a  member  at  the  age  of  eleven  years, 
and  soon  afterward  manifested  much  usefulness  and  de- 
votion. His  stepfather  being  engaged  yearly  in  a 
large  farming  business,  in  which  Franklin  was  regularly 


M 


REV.    F.    K.    BIRD. 


employed,  together  with  the  meagre  school  system  of  his 
home  section,  deprived  him  of  early  school  advantages, 
except  one  or  two  months  occasionally  in  some  private  or 
public  school. 

In  1869  his  grandfather  moved  and  settled  at  Newport, 
Tenn.  In  1871,  while  visiting  him,  he  was  favored  with 
one  year's  instruction  in  the  high  school  of  that  place, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       309 

under  Professor  William  H.  McGhee  as  instructor.  On  his 
return  to  his  native  home  he  had  made  sufficient  advance- 
ment to  obtain  a  third  grade  teacher's  certificate,  and 
taught  his  first  school  at  Mykle's  Chapel  Schoolhouse, 
near  his  home.  This  was  the  small  beginning  of  an 
eventful  life  of  public  usefulness. 

It  was  while  teaching  this  small  school  that  he  grasped 
the  opportunities  of  educating  himself.  He  paid  out  of 
his  income  for  private  instruction  to  one  Professor 
,  a  white  teacher,  at  the  rate  of  $2  for  three  recita- 
tions each  week  at  night,  on  condition  that  he  would 
never  divulge  his  teacher's  name.  During  this  time  he 
succeeded  in  completing  his  studies  in  arithmetic,  gram- 
mar, geography,  history,  etc.  He  also  cultivated  his 
talent  in  vocal  music,  and  while  teaching  the  same  his 
fame  had  reached  Marion,  N.  C,  from  which  place  he 
received  a  call  to  the  principalship  of  a  large  school, 
which  gave  him  from  five  to  six  months'  employment  in 
each  year.  He  remained  at  the  head  of  this  school  for 
six  years  consecutively,  during  which  time  he  found  his 
way  to  Biddle  University,  Charlotte,  N.  C,  where  he 
spent  four  terms,  paying  for  the  same  with  the  money 
he  obtained  by  teaching.  He  professed  faith  in  Christ 
June  24,  1874,  served  in  every  local  official  capacity  in 
his  church,  was  licensed  to  exhort  July  4,  1876;  received 
local  preacher's  license  in  November  of  the  same  year, 
and  joined  the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  at  Salisbury, 
N.  C,  December  4,  1877.  He  took  his  first  appointment 
in  the  following  year  at  the  hands  of  his  Presiding 
Elder.  Rev.   S.  S.  Murdock,  to  a  part  of  the  Marion  Cir- 


3IO  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

cuit.  At  the  following  Conference,  Goldsboro,  N.  C,  he 
was  ordained  deacon  and  appointed  in  charge  of  the 
entire  circuit.  This  work  was  so  enlarged  that  it  became 
the  work  of  two  pastors  at  the  end  of  his  two  years'  ad- 
ministration. At  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  in  1879,  when  the 
North  Carolina  Conference  was  divided,  and  the  Central 
and  North  Carolina  Conferences  formed,  he  was  appointed 
to  Wilson  Station,  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference.  At 
the  end  of  the  year  the  property,  which  had  been  long 
involved  in  litigation,  was  redeemed,  and  the  church 
doubled  in  membership.  At  Tarboro,  N.  C,  1880,  he 
was  ordained  to  the  office  of  an  elder  and  stationed  at 
Concord,  N.  C,  where  he  rendered  efficient  service  to 
Bishop  C.  R.  Harris,  as  business  manager  of  the  Star 
of  Zion.  On  April  7,  of  this  year,  at  Wilson,  N.  C, 
he  was  united  by  marriage  to  Miss  Agnes  M.  Barnes,  a 
student  of  St.  Augustine  Institute,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

During  this  year  he  also  met  President  Mattoon,  D.D., 
of  Biddle  University,  with  whom  he  arranged,  and  in  the 
next  year  reentered  the  university,  filling  at  the  same 
time  the  pastorate  at  Biddleville  Station.  He  remained  in 
the  university  five  terms,  during  which  he  completed 
the  normal  course  and  advanced  rapidly  in  the  classical 
course.  He  was  considered  by  the  faculty  as  being  one 
of  the  brightest  students  in  that  institution.  He  is  yet  a 
student,  and  has  mastered  many  of  the  studies  most  help- 
ful to  him  in  his  work  by  persistent  effort  and  private 
instructions. 

In  February,  1883,  Bishop  Hood  secured  his  services 
by  transfer,  and  stationed  him  at  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal   Zion   Church,    Exchange   Street,    Worcester, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       3  I  I 

Mass.,  where  he  rendered  more  than  three  years'  success- 
ful service,  to  the  general  satisfaction  of  the  people.  He 
was  then  removed  to  the  church,  corner  Broad  and 
Gregory  Streets,  Bridgeport,  Conn.  Here  he  had  a 
splendid  financial  success.  At  the  end  of  two  years, 
feeling  that  his  services  could  be  more  effective  in  the 
Southern  field,  he  transferred  back  to  his  native  State, 
and  has  since  filled  with  success  the  pastorates  at  St.  Paul 
Station,  Tarboro,  N.  C,  Farmer's  Temple,  Washington, 
N.  C,  and  St.  James  Station,  at  Goldsboro,  N.  C.  He 
has  filled  the  position  of  secretary  in  all  of  his  Confer- 
ences, receiving  all  his  ordinations  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Bishop  Hood,  and  has  been  in  attendance  upon 
the  last  three  General  Conferences,  where  he  was  an 
able  representative  of  his  Church  and  race. 

While  at  the  General  Conference  at  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
May,  1892,  he  received  notice  from  the  President  of 
Bethany  College,  at  Lumberton,  N.  C,  that  the  trustees 
of  said  institution  had,  without  solicitation,  conferred  upon 
him  the  degree  of  Divinitatis  Doctor.  Upon  refusing  to 
accept  their  proffer  he  found  on  his  arrival  home  the 
certificate  awaiting  him  at  the  express  office.  At  his 
Conference  on  December  6,  1892,  he  was  unanimously 
elected  to  the  position  of  presiding  elder,  as  the  result  of 
a  long-expressed  desire  upon  the  part  of  the  ministers, 
and  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Wilmington 
District  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference,  where  he  is 
doing  a  great  work  in  building  up  and  extending  the 
borders  of  Zion.  He  is  unassuming  in  public  life,  affable, 
congenial  in  disposition,  self-sacrificing,  and  devoted  to 

his  calling  in  the  ministry. 

22 


312  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

LOUISIANA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  March  13,  1865,  by 
Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  There  were  fifteen  preachers 
present.  This  was  the  second  Conference  formed  in 
the  Southland  and  the  last  one  formed  before  the  close 
of  the  war.  The  work  preparatory  to  its  organization 
was  superintended  largely  by  Bishop  Clinton  in  person. 
Soon  after  organizing  the  North  Carolina  Conference  he 
went  by  sea  to  New  Orleans,  which,  like  New  Berne,  had 
been  captured  by  the  Federal  forces. 

Among  the  Conferences  laid  out  on  paper  at  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1864  was  the  Louisiana  Conference. 
It  was  to  embrace  the  States  south  of  the  North  Carolina 
Conference.  Starting  at  the  James  River  one  was  to 
work  southward,  and  starting  at  New  Orleans  the  other 
was  to  work  northward  until  they  met.  However  wild 
this  scheme  may  have  seemed  in  1864,  when  the  Federal 
forces  had  only  a  foothold,  so  to  speak,  in  North  Carolina 
and  in  Louisiana,  yet  the  men  who  fixed  the  boundaries 
of  the  Conferences,  then  in  embryo,  had  faith  in  the  success 
of  the  course  of  freedom,  and  their  expectations  have  been 
quite  fulfilled.     They  built  more  wisely  than  they  knew. 

The  Louisiana  Conference  itself  has  not  met  our  ex- 
pectations. In  1 87 1,  four  years  after  the  Alabama  Con- 
ference had  been  set  off,  it  reported  10,124  members;  in 
1879  ^  reported  only  1,680.  We  may  suppose  that  the 
exodus  had  much  to  do  with  this  large  falling  off ;  but 
from  the  best  information  at  hand  we  learn  that  we  were 
unfortunate  in  some  of  the  men  employed  in  this  field, 
while  other  denominations  were  more  fortunate. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       3 1 3 

While  within  the  present  bounds  of  the  Louisiana  Con- 
ference our  expectations  have  not  been  fully  realized,  yet 
in  that  vast  field  included  in  the  Louisiana  Conference 
as  laid  out  by  the  General  Conference  in  1864  the  suc- 
cess has  been  only  second  to  that  of  the  work  which 
started  at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  a  little  earlier  in  the  same 
year.  Five  Conferences  have  been  set  off  by  the  Loui- 
siana Conference,  as  follows :  The  Alabama,  the  Florida, 
the  Georgia,  the  Texas,  and  the  North  Louisiana  Con- 
ferences. Out  of  the  Alabama  Conference  the  West  Ala- 
bama Conference  has  been  formed,  out  of  the  Georgia 
the  South  Georgia,  and  out  of  the  Florida  the  South 
Florida  has  been  formed,  making  in  all  eight  Confer- 
ences which  have  sprung  from  the  Louisiana  Conference. 

REV.    T.    F.    H.    BLACKMAN. 

T.  F.  H.  Blackman  was  born  in  Goldsboro,  N.  C, 
March  9,  1852.  He  received  his  early  training  in  the 
Freedmen's  School  maintained  at  that  place  partly  by 
Northern  aid.  He  entered  St.  Augustine  Normal  School, 
at  Raleigh,  but  failed  to  finish  the  course  by  reason  of 
having  to  work  to  care  for  his  father.  He  has  finished 
the  course  in  the  Chautauqua  Literary  and  Scientific  Circle, 
also  a  course  in  Hebrew.  He  was  baptized  when  about 
thirteen  or  fourteen  years  old ;  was  converted  and  taken 
into  full  connection  May  30,  1869,  at  Wilson,  N.  C, 
where  he  was  engaged  in  teaching  school.  He  received 
a  local  preacher's  license  at  Mosley  Hall,  March  4,  1871. 
He  was  received  into  the  Annual  Conference  and  ordained 
deacon  at  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  December  1,  1871,  and  was 
ordained  elder  at  Concord  November  30,  1875.     His  first 


3  H  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

appointment  was  to  the  Evergreen  Circuit,  Brunswick 
County,  N.  C. ;  here  he  served  for  two  years.  His  next 
appointment  was  Mount  Pleasant,  Columbus  County,  for 
three  years.  He  was  then  sent  to  Lincoln,  where  he 
remained  for  four  years.  During  these  nine  years  in 
the  pastoral  work  he  had  uninterrupted  success.  He 
built  up  the  church  spiritually,  improved  the  church 
property,  and  paid  off  debts.  The  church  at  Lincolnton 
has  never  since  been  in  as  good  condition  as  it  was  when 
he  had  charge.  In  1880  he  was  appointed  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Statesville  District,  which  position  he  filled 
with  credit  for  one  year,  during  which  time  he  succeeded 
in  establishing  the  church  at  Morganton,  where  we  had 
long  labored  in  vain  to  get  a  start.  He  then  filled  a  mis- 
sionary appointment  in  South  Carolina  for  one  year  in 
the  interest  of  the  church  in  Columbia,  and  raised  ninety 
dollars  above  his  salary  and  expenses.  He  then  had  a 
very  successful  year  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Lancaster, 
S.  C.  His  seventh  appointment  was  to  Opelika,  Ala. 
This  was  among  his  most  pleasant  charges,  and  he  had 
very  great  success. 

From  this  point  he  was  transferred  to  the  Tennessee 
Conference  and  appointed  to  Chattanooga,  where  his 
usual  success  attended  him ;  he  paid  more  than  one  thou- 
sand dollars  on  the  debt.  At  the  end  of  two  years'  serv- 
ice he  was  appointed  to  Maryville,  Tenn.  ;  here  he  im- 
proved the  church  both  spiritually  and  temporally,  leav- 
ing it  in  excellent  condition.  He  was  then  appointed  to 
the  Shiloh  Circuit  in  Buncombe  County,  N.  C. ;  but  Pre- 
siding Elder  White,  of  the  Bristol  District,  having  re- 
signed, Rev.  Blackman  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       3 1  5 

for  the  balance  of  the  year.  He  filled  that  position  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  both  bishop  and  pastors  for  two 
years.  He  is  now  serving  the  second  year  as  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Asheville  District. 

Brother  Blackman  has  had  a  very  quiet  but  successful 
ministry.  While  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Statesville  Dis- 
trict he  secured  the  first  lot  for  a  church  in  Winston. 
He  has  been  a  painstaking  and  industrious  member  of 
several  General  Conferences.  He  was  married  in  1881 
to  Miss  Lillian  M.  Carson,  who  has  been  a  faithful  help- 
mate. 

REV.    G.    H.    S.    BELL. 

G.  H.  S.  Bell  was  born  in  the  town  of  St.  George,  in 
the  islands  of  Bermuda,  alias  Somers  Islands,  the  16th 
of  December,  A.  D.  1858.  His  father  and  mother,  Inkle 
and  Hannah  Bell,  were  both  formerly  slaves  in  what 
was  known  as  the  British  West  Indies  slavery,  but  were, 
by  an  act  of  the  British  Parliament,  emancipated  on  the 
1st  of  August,  1834.  His  grandfather,  Mr.  Peter  Her- 
bert, by  his  mother's  side,  was  a  freeman,  and  was  the 
first  appointed  class  leader  in  the  Wesleyan  Methodist 
Church  or  Society  in  Bermuda.  This  information  was 
gained  from  the  memoirs  of  Rev.  John  Marsden,  the 
second  appointed  and  officiating  Wesleyan  minister  in 
that  colony. 

From  the  age  of  six  to  fourteen  years  he  was  a  strict 
attendant  and  ardent  scholar  in  the  parochial  schools  un- 
der white  and  colored  teachers  of  no  mean  ability.  At 
the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  Mr.  Thomas 
Worth  to  learn  the  tailoring  business  in  the  town  of 
Hamilton,  Bermuda.     At  the  expiration  of  six  years'  ap- 


3 16  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

prenticeship,  having  finished  the  trade,  he  worked  about 
two  years  as  journeyman  tailor,  and  served  as  parish 
constable  at  the  same  time.  This  position  was  occupied 
by  him  for  the  purpose  of  pulling  down  race  prejudice* 
The  first  duty  he  was  called  to  perform  in  this  office  by 
the  mayor  was  to  serve  a  warrant  and  arrest  a  mutinous 
crew  of  six  stalwart  seamen  of  an  American  schooner. 
Big  Tom  and  his  five  followers  very  readily  submitted  to 
the  little  man  and  accompanied  him  to  the  jail. 

Ambition  prompted  the  journeyman  tailor  to  start  into 
business  for  himself,  which  he  did,  and  continued  for 
about  a  year  and  a  half.  His  great  desire  to  study  when 
a  schoolboy  never  left  him.  It  rather  became  greater, 
and  all  his  leisure  moments  were  applied  in  that  direction. 
He  often  made  a  sacrifice  of  pleasure  for  the  purpose  of 
gaining  knowledge.  He  was  not  designed  to  remain  long 
as  a  master  tailor,  for  the  dean  and  rector  of  St.  George's 
Parish  urged  the  request  to  relinquish  the  trade  and  take 
charge  of  a  government  school  in  his  diocese,  which  he 
accepted  after  passing  examination.  When  he  became 
established  in  this  new  calling  he  fully  realized  the  bene- 
fit of  continual  studying.  For  fifteen  years  he  continued 
in  the  capacity  of  a  public  teacher  in  his  native  home, 
when  he  resigned  that  position  to  enter  into  one  of  more 
responsibility. 

About  the  year  1856  he  came  into  possession  of  the- 
History  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  CJutrch, 
written  by  Bishop  C.  Rush.  By  it  he  became  interested 
in  the  subject  of  colored  churches  and  their  ministry. 
Being  always  associated  with  an  amalgamated  church 
membership,  he  was  not  much  acquainted  with  white  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       3  I  7 

colored  churches  in  the  civilized  world.  This  rekindled 
his  childhood  ambition  to  be  a  "  preacher  of  the  Gospel," 
but  the  opportunities  were  in  the  far  distant  and  incon- 
ceivable. In  1868  an  opportunity  was  offered  by  an  Epis- 
copal clergyman  to  give  instructions  in  such  branches  of 
a  higher  education  as  to  qualify  a  candidate  for  examina- 
tion to  ministerial  orders ;  the  offer  was  readily  embraced 
and  pursued  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  preceptor.  It  was 
the  wish  of  his  educational  benefactor  that  he  should 
aspire  to  the  Episcopal  ministry.  When  he  discovered 
three  years  later  that  Mr.  Bell  was  connected  with  the 
Methodists,  especially  as  a  preacher,  he  became  so  indig- 
nant that  he  refused  to  recognize  him  on  the  streets ;  he 
even  caused  the  lord  bishop  of  the  dioceses  to  visit  him 
with  persuasions  against  being  identified  with  the  colored 
Methodist  Society.  All  arguments  failed  in  causing  any 
change,  as,  seemingly,  there  was  a  divine  ruling  in  the 
man  who  loved  the  welfare  of  his  race. 

In  the  year  1870  the  inhabitants  of  Bermuda — partic- 
ularly the  colored — were  considerably  interested  in  the 
rumor  that  a  colored  bishop  intended  visiting  their  island 
home.  Prompted  by  curiosity,  on  April  23,  1870,  he  ad- 
journed school  for  half  a  day  to  be  one  of  the  first  to  see 
a  colored  bishop,  when,  about  2  :  30  p.  m.,  the  New  York 
mail  steamer  entered  Hamilton  harbor  bearing  the  dis- 
tinguished guest,  Bishop  Willis  Nazrey,  of  the  British 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 
While  numbered  with  the  anxious  lookers-on  the  voice  of 
his  father-in-law,  Mr.  James  T.  Butterfield,  was  heard 
directing  him  to  look  after  the  bishop's  baggage.  Deem- 
ing  the  request  a  proper  one,  he  hastened  to  comply. 


3 18  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Two  days  later  a  public  meeting  was  convened  in  the 
spacious  hall  of  the  Odd  Fellows'  building,  at  which  time 
this  bishop  delivered  an  address  on  the  colored  people  of 
America  and  Bermuda.  Mr.  Bell  attended  this  meeting 
as  a  curious  spectator.  When  the  exercises  took  the  turn 
of  a  business  form  he  was  the  choice  for  secretary  pro  tern ; 
but  he  was  destined  to  go  beyond  that.  From  that  night 
the  greater  part  of  his  leisure  time,  especially  nights, 
was  devoted  to  traveling  and  speaking  in  the  interest  of 
the  hew  church  society.  In  the  year  1872  he  was  granted 
local  preacher's  license,  and  on  the  18th  of  May,  1873, 
was  ordained  to  the  order  of  a  deacon  in  the  British 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  and  in  the  first  Bermuda 
Annual  Conference  by  Bishop  W.  Nazrey.  He  con- 
tinued to  follow  teaching  school,  visiting  his  charges  on 
Sundays  and  once  during  the  week  days.  As  no  clergy- 
man in  Bermuda  at  that  time  was  allowed  to  exercise 
all  the  functions  of  his  office  without  permission  from 
the  governor  and  council,  who  had  first  to  approve  of 
credentials  and  qualifications,  he  was  approved  and 
licensed  January  24,  1876.  At  the  General  Conference  of 
the  Bermuda  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  which  met  in 
St.  Catharine's,  Ont.,  in  September  of  the  same  year,  he 
was  on  the  17th  day  ordained  to  elders'  orders.  He 
returned  to  Bermuda  and  pursued  his  usual  avocations 
till  July,  1 877, when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Nova  Scotia 
Conference  and  assigned  to  the  church  at  Liverpool,  where 
he  remained  for  two  years.  He  also  taught  a  govern- 
ment school  during  his  pastorate.  When  about  to 
leave  the  superintendent  of  schools  offered  him  a  room 
in    the    academy  if   he  would  remain.      The   offer  was 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       319 

tempting,  but  not  enough  to  induce  him  to  forsake  what 
he  considered  God's  call  to  the  ministry.  His  next 
charge  was  at  St.  John's,  N.  B.  His  entrance  to  that 
city  was  by  no  means  encouraging.  The  people  had 
become  dissatisfied  and  discouraged  on  account  of  some 
misdemeanors  of  former  pastors,  and  did  not  want  to 
"have  any  more  ministers."  For  nine  hours  he  and  his 
wife  walked  the  streets  of  that  city  looking  for  a  place  to 
stop  or  a  home.  The  Sunday  following  his  arrival  there 
he  held  service,  and  the  people  subscribed  largely  to  his 
support.  He  fared  sumptuously  all  that  year,  leaving 
with  the  heartfelt  regrets  of  many. 

During  his  stay  in  St.  John's  he  decided  to  carry  out 
the  wishes  of  earlier  days,  and  that  was  to  spend  a  few 
years  in  the  United  States.  Learning  what  time  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  and  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Bethel  Conferences  would  meet,  he  proposed  to 
visit  them  both,  and  the  one  that  pleased  the  better  he 
would  try  to  join.  Consequently,  in  April,  1880,  he  came 
to  America  and  visited  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Conference  in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where, 
from  the  affable  disposition  and  gentlemanly  manner  of 
Bishop  J.J.Moore,  D.D.,  and  the  members  of  that  Confer- 
ence, he  decided  to  make  application  for  membership. 
Being  still  connected  with  his  Nova  Scotia  Conference,  and 
having  no  recommendation,  only  credentials  of  ordina- 
tion, the  Conference  determined  he  should  fill  an  appoint- 
ment before  it  took  any  action  pro  or  con.  The  next 
day,  after  complying  with  the  Conference's  request,  he  was 
unanimously  accepted  and  appointed  to  Cambridgeport, 
Mass.     As  Secretary  of  the  Nova  Scotia  Conference  he 


320  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

had  to  return  there  and  deliver  up  their  books.  At  the 
time  he  went  to  Cambridgeport  Zion  was  numerically 
small  and  influentially  weak.  God  in  his  divine  power 
visited  Zion  there  in  1882  with  a  great  revival  spirit,  when 
a  large  number  professed  conversion  to  God.  From  that 
time  little  Rush  Zion  began  to  take  her  stand,  not  among 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  but  among  the  churches  of  cities. 
The  interest  of  the  work  had  so  much  increased  that  all 
floating  debts  were  met,  and  by  the  time  for  the  sitting 
of  the  Annual  Conference  in  1884  over  one  hundred 
dollars  had  been  banked  toward  the  purchase  of  land  for 
building  purposes.  In  1884  he  was  appointed  to  the 
charge  at  Hartford,  Conn., where  he  remained  three  years. 
He  served  the  church  at  Middletown  Conn.,  two  years 
and  from  there  he  went  to  Worcester,  Mass.,  remaining 
in  the  pastorate  three  years.  His  next  appointment  was 
at  Waterbury,  Conn. 

In  1 88 1  he  was  elected  Assistant  Secretary  for  'the 
Annual  Conference,  and  in  1882  was  elected  Secretary  of 
the  Annual  Conference,  and  served  in  that  capacity  till 
1884,  when  he  was  appointed  and  elected  Conference 
steward  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  General  Confer- 
ence, which  sat  in  New  York  city  that  same  year.  He  is 
now  serving  his  ninth  year  and  third  appointment  to  that 
responsible  office.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  General 
Conference  of  1888,  at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  and  1892  at 
Pittsburg,  Pa.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  Local 
Mission  Board  of  the  New  England  Annual  Conference 
for  ten  years,  serving  in  the  capacity  of  secretary  all  but 
one  year,  when  he  was  president. 

Brother  Bell  is  a  man  of  high  Christian  character  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       32  I 

greatly  beloved  by  his  people.  During  the  long  period 
that  he  has  held  the  position  of  Conference  steward  his 
accounts  have  been  well  kept,  and  not  a  cent  has  gone 
astray,  and  the  expense  of  running  the  office  has  been 
exceptionally  and  surprisingly  small.  We  venture  the 
assertion  that  no  living  man  is  more  straightforward  or 
trusty  in  his  dealings. 

PROFESSOR    WILLIAM    HOWARD    DAY,    D.D., 

General  Secretary  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 

Connection. 

William  Howard  Day  was  born  in  New  York  city, 
October  16,  1831.  His  father,  John  Day,  was  a  sail- 
maker.  He  died  from  an  accident  when  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  only  three  years  of  age.  Mrs.  Eliza 
Day  {ne'e  Dixon),  his  mother,  became  both  father  and 
mother.  Being  the  youngest  of  the  family,  this  boy  and 
his  mother  seemed  almost  inseparable.  The  mother  was 
originally  a  member  of  John  Street  Church,  the  mother 
church  of  Methodism  in  America.  To  this  place  she 
often  led  her  boy.  They  continued  attendants  here 
and  at  mother  Zion,  New  York,  until  circumstances 
seemed  to  justify  her  in  becoming  a  regular  member 
of  Zion,  the  mother  church  of  African  Methodism. 
Long  previous  to  this,  however,  Zion  was  the  center- 
post  of  her  religious  life,  and  the  two  younger  of  the 
four  children  of  the  family  were  transferred  with  the 
mother,  and  became  regular  members  of  the  mother  Zion 
Sunday  school.  Long  previous  to  this,  too,  as  early  as 
1825,  this  home  became  the  visiting  home  of  Zion's 
pioneer  ministers.     Right  Rev.  James  Varick,  the  first 


322  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

superintendent,  baptized  William  Howard  Day.  Right 
Rev.  Christopher  Rush,  Rev.  Timothy  Eato,  Right  Rev. 
William  Haywood  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  James  Simmons, 
Right  Rev.  George  Galbreth,  Rev.  Dempsey  Kennedy, 
Rev.  Edward  Matthews,  Rev.  Jehiel  C.  Beman,  Right 
Rev.  Joseph  P.  Thompson,  Rev.  Jacob  Thomas,  Rev. 
John  Dungy,  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  2d,  Rev.  Joseph 
Hicks,  Rev.  Father  Van  Hass,  Rev.  Daniel  Vandeveer, 
Rev.  Charles  Gardner,  Rev.  Jacob  D.  Richardson,  and  a 
host  of  others,  bishops,  pastors,  and  laymen,  were  often 
visitors  and  always  welcome  guests.  Prayer  meetings 
and  class  meetings  were  often  held  here,  and  the  presence 
of  the  God  of  Israel  was  manifested  in  power.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  such 
influences.  No  wonder  that  he  was  called  early  to  con- 
sider his  ways  and  to  seek  the  Lord.  Any  boy  with  such 
a  mother  is  rich  indeed.  Whe.n  about  four  years  of  age 
"  William  Howard,"  as  his  mother  always  familiarly 
called  him,  was  sent  to  an  infant  school  on  White  Street, 
under  the  charge  of  Mr.  Levi  Folsom  and  mother  and 
sister,  and  at  six  years  of  age,  we  are  told,  William  could 
read  anywhere  in  the  Bible.  He  has  a  book  presented 
by  the  noted  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  or 
Quakers,  Mr*.  Murray,  as  a  premium  for  reading  in  a 
competitive  contest  in  that  school.  Later  on  he  was  sent 
to  Public  School  No.  2,  on  what  was  then  Laurens 
Street,  but  now  South  Fifth  Avenue,  under  the  princi- 
palship  of  Mr.  Ransom  F.  Wake,  and  later  on  was  sent 
to  the  private  school  on  West  Broadway  under  the  charge 
of  Rev.  Frederick  Janes,  of  Massachusetts.  Here  the 
distinguished  chemist  and  philanthropist,   John  Payson 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       323 

Williston,  came  to  pay  a  visit  to  Rev.  Janes  and  his 
school.  As  a  result  of  the  examinations  and  exhibition 
Mr.  Williston  made  a  present  in  money  to  this  boy,  and 
in  two  weeks  called  upon  his  mother  to  ask  that  he  might 
be  allowed  to  take  him  to  Northampton,  Mass.,  and 
adopt  him  as  almost  his  son.  The  mother,  recognizing 
this  as  a  call  from  God,  with  tears  said,  "  Yes,"  and  in 
two  weeks  more  Honorable  Samuel  Williston,  of  East 
Hampton,  Mass.,  the  founder  of  Williston  Seminary, 
came  to  take  charge  of  the  boy  on  his  (then)  long  journey. 
The  mother  accompanied  him  as  far  as  Hartford,  Conn. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  space  to  detail  his  sub- 
sequent history.  Suffice  to  say  he  encountered  fearful 
prejudices  from  the  outside  world  in  his  new  relationship ; 
but,  with  some  perseverance  and  a  faithful  and  just 
guardian  behind  him,  and  with  a  faithful  teacher,  Rev. 
Rudolphus  B.  Hubbard,  he  entered  the  high  school  and 
won  recognition  of  merit.  Here  he  prepared  for  college, 
presumably  for  Williams  College,  where  went  several  of 
his  classmates,  notable  among  them  the  young  man  who 
is  now  William  D wight  Whitney,  Professor  of  Sanskrit, 
etc.,  in  Yale  College;  but  the  hydra-headed  prejudice  of 
the  United  States  said,  "  No!  " 

In  the  meantime  William  Howard  had  learned  the 
printing  business,  newspaper,  job,  and  book  work,  and 
he  found  at  Oberlin,  O.,  not  only  a  course  of  study  equal 
in  every  way  to  that  of  Yale  or  Williams,  but,  to  his  sur- 
prise, a  printing  office,  from  which  his  color  did  not 
debar  him,  and  where  he  could  pay  nearly  all  his  bills 
during  college  by  setting  type.  Thus  the  hand  of  God 
seemed  to  lead  him  and  point  the  way.     Reading  in  the 


324  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

National  Cyclopedia  of  American  Biography,  a  few  days 
since,  we  find  it  speaks,  of  William  Howard  Day  as 
"graduating,  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  class."  Before 
going  to  Oberlin,  under  the  devoted  philanthropist  and 
Christian  who  was  his  guardian,  and  under  the  personal 
effort  of  Rev.  Charles  Stewart  Renshaw,  Evangelist,  Wil- 
liam Howard  gave  himself  to  God ;  but  after  reaching 
Oberlin  he  received  the  blessing  which  confirmed  him  and 
gave  him  the  assurance  of  faith.  He  then  united  with 
the  college  church,  to  which  nearly  all  the  students,  while 
in  school,  of  every  evangelical  belief,  were  attached,  but 
did  not  then  feel,  in  view  of  the  wrongs  to  be  combated, 
that  he  ought  to  go  into  the  ministry.  Therefore  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  lecture  platform,  and  traveled 
almost  everywhere  in  the  defense  of  the  colored  citi- 
zens. He  readily  accepted  the  invitation  of  Rev. 
William  King  (the  Clayton  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  work,  Bred) 
to  go  to  England,  Ireland,  and  Scotland,  to  secure  the 
means  to  erect  a  church  and  four  schoolhouses  in  the 
Elgin  settlement  at  Buxton,  in  Canada,  which  Horace 
Greeley  declared  was  the  ' '  greatest  problem  in  social  sci- 
ence that  had  been  wrought  out  on  this  continent."  Rev. 
King  and  Professor  Day  raised  £y,ooo,  or  $35,000,  for 
the  purpose.  During  his  absence  in  England  he  was 
more  directly  called  to  the  pulpit,  and  occupied  a  large 
portion  of  three  years  in  preaching,  acting  for  months  as 
stated  pastor  of  a  congregation  in  England,  composed  of 
English  people.  Upon  his  return,  while  serving  Zion  as 
editor  of  the  Zion  s  Standard  and  Weekly  Review,  he  was 
received  by  letter  into  full  membership  of  John  Wesley 
Zion    Church,    Washington,    Rev.    Singleton    T.    Jones 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       325 

pastor,  and  soon  after,  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  at  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Virginia  Conference,  was  ordained  deacon 
and  elder  by  Right  Rev.  Joseph  J.  Clinton.  This  was  in 
1866.  He  has  held  the  pastorate  and  has  been  offered 
some  influential  churches,  but  preferring  missionary  and 
educational  work  he  has  usually  been  assigned  thereto. 
Soon  after  his  ordination  he  was,  as  it  were,  loaned 
from  the  Virginia  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore 
Conference,  and  up  to  1886  or  1887  retained  that  rela- 
tionship, meeting  the  Virginia  Conference  when  able, 
but  being  usually  represented  by  letter.  This  arrange- 
ment was  not  entirely  of  his  seeking,  but  was  provi- 
dential. 

Intending  to  cast  in  his  lot  with  his  brethren  in  the 
South,  and  to  remain  in  the  Virginia  Conference,  soon 
after  he  was  ordained  he  bade  farewell  to  his  editorial 
work  in  New  York,  left  relatives  and  friends  behind,  and 
started  for  his  Southern  field  of  labor.  At  Baltimore, 
Md.,  he  took  occasion  to  call  to  pay  his  respects  to  Gen- 
eral E.  M.  Gregory,  an  old  friend  in  the  order  of  the 
Sons  of  Temperance,  who  had  been  appointed  by  Major 
General  O.  O.  Howard  Assistant  Commissioner  of  the 
Bureau  of  Refugees,  Freedmen,  and  Abandoned  Lands. 
He  explained  to  the  general  whither  he  was  going,  and  to 
his  surprise  was  informed  by  the  general  that  he  had 
telegraphed  that  morning  to  him  in  New  York  to  be- 
come Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  District  of  Mary- 
land and  Delaware.  Professor  Day  demurred,  the  gen- 
eral talked  of  Day's  being  under  martial  law  and  obliged 
to  acquiesce,  which  for  some  time  he  would  not  do,  5s 
he  was  intent  upon  going  further.     But  the  opening  was 


326  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

really  in  the  South,  he  would  be  the  only  colored  citizen 
a  superintendent  of  schools ;  and  it  looked  like  a  provi- 
dence, as  Day  had  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
matter  and  knew  nothing  of  it  until  his  visit  to  the  gen- 
eral. At  last  Professor  Day,  after  filling  some  engage- 
ments previously  made,  came  back  and  had  charge  of  140 
schools,  160  teachers,  and  7,000  children.  At  the  close 
of  his  service  Major  General  O.  O.  Howard  wrote  of 
him,  "  One  of  my  excellent  superintendents  of  schools." 
Professor  Day's  relationship  was,  on  motion,  favorably 
referred  to  by  the  General  Conference  of  1868,  when  he 
introduced  Major  General  O.  O.  Howard  to  that  body. 

In  1876,  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  the  General  Conference 
elected  him  general  secretary ;  after  an  interval  of  twelve 
years  he  was  again  elected  by  the  General  Conference  at 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  and  in  1892  again  reelected  by  the 
General  Conference  which  met  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.  He  is 
also  Secretary  of  the  General  Board  of  Home  and  Foreign 
Missions,  composed  of  the  Board  of  Bishops,  and  in  his 
own  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference  has  been 
presiding  elder  and  is  now  general  missionary,  intel- 
lectual instructor,  supervisor  of  missions,  and  general 
home  and  foreign  agent  for  educational  and  missionary 
purposes.  He  received  the  degrees  of  A.B.  and  A.M. 
from  Oberlin,  his  alma  mater,  and  the  degree  of  D.D. 
from  Livingstone.  Besides  filling  other  important  posts 
he  has  been  twice  unanimously  elected  the  President  of 
the  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  Board  of  School  Control,  and  is  still 
an  influential  member  of  that  important  body.  He  is 
the  only  colored  citizen  in  that  organization  of  twenty- 
five  members.     With  all  his  other  labors  he  is  engaged 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       327 

in  assisting  other  brethren  of  the  churches  in  preaching 
the  Gospel  at  camp  meetings  and  special  revival  services. 
Assisted  by  the  Masonic  fraternity  he  laid  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Zion  Church  at  Mechanicsburg,  Pa.,  and  in 
1890  assisted  Bishop  Thompson  in  laying  the  corner 
stone  and  dedicating  the  Zion  Church  at  Saratoga  Springs, 
N.  Y.,  and  in  laying  the  corner  stone  of  the  Thompson 
Zion  Church  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.  Two  years  previous  he 
assisted  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler,  B.D.,  in  laying  the  corner 
stone  of  his  new  Zion  Church  in  Somerville,  N.  J. 

Professor  W.  Howard  Day  is  one  of  the  best  orators  of 
the  race,  and  if  his  scholarly  attainments  are  taken  into 
consideration  he  has  no  superior.  The  fact  that  he  has 
held  for  several  years  the  chairmanship  of  the  Board  of 
Education  of  the  city  and  county  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  he 
being  the  only  colored  member  of  the  board,  is  certainly 
remarkable.  No  other  colored  man  has  held  such  posi- 
tion under  like  circumstances.  As  to  his  ability  to  keep 
books  he  takes  foremost  rank  among  the  men  of  our  race. 
As  a  preacher  he  is  sound  in  theology,  logical  and  elo- 
quent. He  has  great  respect  for  those  who  have  author- 
ity over  him,  whether  his  equals  intellectually  or  not. 

KENTUCKY  CONFERENCE. 
This  Conference  was  organized  June  6,  1866,  by  Bishop 
Sampson  D.  Talbot,  at  4  P.  m.,  in  Center  Street  Church, 
Louisville,  Ky.  The  following  ministers  and  preachers 
were  present:  Rev.  William  F.  Butler,  Samuel  Elliott, 
Leroy  Brannon,  R.  Bridwell,  Anthony  Bunch,  R.  Mar- 
shall, William  H.  Miles,  William  Koger,  E.  H.  Curry, 
Peter  McCormick,  Henderson  First,  Henry  Huges,  David 

23 


328  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Cole,  Henry  Brown,  Douglas  Coward,  Thomas  Henry, 
Cicero  Hazlewood,  Samuel  Sherman,  William  Corneil, 
Lewis  Arnold,  and  Charles  Rodman.  Besides  the  mem- 
bers the  following  distinguished  persons  were  present, 
namely:  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  Rev.  J.  A.  Jones,  of  the 
Philadelphia  Conference ;  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  of  the  New 
York  Conference;  Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen,  of  the  Genesee 
Conference;  and  Rev.  J.  J.  Whiting,  James  Armstrong, 
and  J.  Bowman,  of  the  Allegheny  Conference. 

No  such  body  of  distinguished  colored  men  had  ever 
before  met  in  Louisville  ;  a  very  fine  impression  was  made, 
and  no  Conference  ever  started  off  with  better  promise. 
At  this  first  session  1,841  members  were  reported.  Dur- 
ing the  first  year  after  the  formation  the  increase  was 
most  encouraging.  The  membership  reported  at  the 
second  Conference  was  3,253.  But  an  unfortunate  matter 
at  the  third  session  of  the  Conference  created  schism, 
which,  together  with  some  troubles  in  Tennessee  and 
Georgia,  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Colored  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church. 

Rev.  William  F.  Butler  was  a  man  of  decided  ability, 
but  not  well  balanced.  He  did  things  sometimes  to  vex 
regardless  of  consequences.  Sometimes  no  serious  harm 
results  from  such  conduct,  but  it  is  a  kind  of  sport  that 
seldom  pays.  He  knew  that  Rev.  W.  H.  Miles  was  some- 
what ambitious,  and  he  pretended  to  boom  him  for  bishop 
in  1868.  It  is  not  likely  that  Miles  would  have  thought 
of  it  if  Butler  had  not  made  him  believe  that  his  chances 
were  good.  He  seemed  as  happy,  loyal,  and  true  as  any 
delegate  there.  But  when  the  election  took  place  and  he 
was  not  mentioned  he  felt  that  he  had  been  fooled. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       329 

The  following,  kindly  furnished  by  Rev.  E.  H.  Curry, 
will  give  a  clearer  view  of  the  conflicts  and  trials  through 
which  this  Conference  has  passed. 

"  A    SKETCH    OF    THE    ORGANIZATION    OF   THE    KENTUCKY    ANNUAL 

CONFERENCE. 

"The  Kentucky  Annual  Conference  was  organized  June  6,  1866, in  Cen- 
ter Street  Church,  in  the  city  of  Louisville  and  State  of  Kentucky,  by  Right 
Rev.  Sampson  Talbot,  General  Superintendent  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Connection,  assisted  by  Superintendent  Joseph  J.  Clinton. 
The  membership  of  the  Conference  was  made  up  of  men  of  no  experience 
in  the  itinerant  work,  and  without  a  knowledge  of  the  polity  of  the  Church. 
They  were  sent  to  their  appointments  in  many  places  without  a  church  edi- 
fice, nay,  without  any  members  ;  nevertheless  they  went  trusting  in  God  for 
success.  The  superintendent  left  and  was  seen  no  more  until  the  next 
Annual  Conference,  and  the  only  guides  left  to  instruct  the  Conference 
were  Rev.  W.  F.  Butler  and  Rev.  W.  H.  Miles.  The  latter  was  ap- 
pointed general  missionary  and  supported  from  Center  Street  Church  by 
the  Daughters  of  Conference,  or  at  least  in  part. 

"  At  the  reassembling  of  the  second  Annual  Conference  William  Hay- 
wood Bishop,  general  superintendent,  presided.  Rev.  W.  F.  Butler  was 
removed  from  Center  Street  Church  and  succeeded  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Miles. 
Hence  some  feeling  of  unpleasantness  sprangup  between  those  two  divines. 
The  superintendent,  however,  left  again,  to  be  seen  no  more  until  the  sit- 
ting of  the  third  Annual  Conference,  at  which  Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen,  general 
superintendent,  presided.  Then  began  the  scene  of  trouble  in  the  Confer- 
ence, and  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Miles  tendered  his  resignation,  which  was  finally 
received.  This  created  quite  a  feeling,'  and  many  of  the  leading  men  of 
the  higher  rank  left,  until  the  Conference  was  left  with  only  seven  elders  all 
told,  and  many  of  the  churches  followed  in  rapid  succession ;  yet  there  were 
a  few  who  dared  to  hold  on  to  Zion,  and  continued  to  struggle  against  all 
opposition.  Rev.  Richard  Bridwell,  Samuel  Elliott,  Rev.  A.  Bunch,  Samuel 
Shurman,  Leroy  Brannon,  J.  B.  Stansbury,  William  T.  Biddle,  with  one 
other  man,  were  all  the  elders  left  in  the  Kentucky  Conference.  One  year 
later  showed  a  gradual  decline  in  both  churches  and  communicants.  This 
rigor  in  the  Conference  discouraged  both  members  and  ministers,  and  all 
the  more  because  the  ministers  being  returned  to  their  former  charges  it 
was  easy  for  them  to  confuse  the  minds  of  the  people  by  trying  to  carry 
them  into  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  that  by  the  same 
men  who  led  them  into  the  Zion  Connection  at  a  date  still  fresh  in  their 
memory. 

"  One  year  later  reports  showed  the  following  churches  lost :  Falmouth, 


33°  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Ky.;  Millersburg,  Ky.;  Carrollton,  Ky.;  Flemingsburg,  Ky.;  Owensville,  Ky.; 
Glasgow,  Ky. ;  Sharpsburg,  Ky.  ;  Elton,  Ky. ;  Frankford,  Ky.  ;  Burksville, 
Ky. ;  Greenburg,  Ky. ;  wit'h  Center  Street  Church,  of  Louisville,  Ky.  But 
there  were  a  faithful  few  who  still  stood  up  for  Zion. 

"  The  next  event  worthy  of  special  mention  was  the  appointment  of 
Right  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  to  the  Third  Episcopal  District,  which  gave 
new  life  and  impulse  to  the  Kentucky  Conference.  The  work  settled  to  a 
firmer  base  during  the  twelve  consecutive  years  of  his  administration,  not- 
withstanding there  was  some  dissatisfaction  in  the  Board  of  Bishops  and 
among  leading  men  about  organic  union  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  and  the  Conference  being  told  by  those  in  authority  that  the 
union  would  be  consummated  in  the  near  future  it  was  hard  for  them 
to  tell  what  they  were.  This  had  much  to  do  in  shaking  their  faith  in 
the  firmness  and  stability  of  Zion  Connection.  But  the  fight  ended,  and 
the  faithful  few  were  seen  doing  what  they  could  to  build  up  Zion.  The 
Kentucky  Conference  carried  the  standard  of  Zion  into  Indiana,  Illinois, 
and  Missouri,  and  organized  the  Arkansas  and  the  Missouri  Annual 
Conferences." 

Rev.  Y.  Carr  was  the  first  man  to  raise  the  standard 
of  Zion  in  Arkansas,  and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  A.  J. 
Warner,  and  he  by  Rev.  J.  M.  Washington.  The  Con- 
ference was  organized,  however,  under  the  administration 
of  Rev.  A.  J.  Warner,  with  seven  members,  by  Bishop 
S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  but  under  Rev.  J.  M.  Washington  the 
work  increased  very  fast.  The  above  named  elders  were 
the  pioneers  in  the  work.  The  Missouri  Conference 
was  also  set  off  by  the  Kentucky  Conference  and  organ- 
ized by  Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D.,  in  the  town  of  Green- 
ville and  State  of  Kentucky. 

It  has  been  the  pleasure  of  the  Kentucky  Conference  to 
have  the  following  named  bishops  to  preside  over  her  de- 
liberations :  Right  Rev.  Sampson  D.  Talbot,  Right  Rev. 
W.  William  Haywood  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  J.  W.  Loguen, 
Right  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  Right  Rev.  William  H.  Hil-' 
lery,  Right  Rev.  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  Right  Rev.  T.  H. 
Lomax,  D.D.,  and  last,  but  not  least,  Right  Rev.  Alex- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       33 1 

ander  Walters,  D.D.,  all  of  whom  we  regard  as  men  of 
ability  in  their  high  office. 

This  has  been  called  the  Brick  Church  Conference,  on 
account  of  the  large  number  of  brick  edifices  within  its 
borders.  It  has  a  number  of  very  promising  young  men. 
It  has  shown  commendable  interest  in  the  educational 
work,  and  has  established  a  high  school  at  Madisonville, 
which,  under  the  supervision  of  Rev.  G.  B.  Walker,  is  do- 
ing good  work.  This  Conference  has  two  offsprings,  the 
Arkansas  and  the  Missouri  Conferences.  It  has  furnished 
one  bishop  in  the  person  of  Right  Rev.  A.  Walters,  D.D. 
He  is  not  only  the  peculiar  product  of  the  Kentucky  Con- 
ference, but  is  also  a  native  Kentuckian.  The  roll  of 
members  is  as  follows : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  Alexander  Walters,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elders,  J.  B.  Johnson,  E.  H.  Curry,  D.D. 

Elders,  J.  M.  Washington,  H.  tampbell,  A.  R.  Jack- 
son, W.  A.  Walker,  W.  T.  Hays,  M.  W.  Steward,  James 
H.  McMullen,  A.  Nichols,  J.  W.  Rice,  J.  J.  Moore,  J.  R. 
Irvin,  G.  B.  Walker,  I.  W.  Selectman,  R.  T.  Anderson, 
W.  W.  Dorsey,  S.  Young,  C.  R.  Lennox,  J.  H.  Gough, 
S.  B.  Jones,  B.  Lynch,  W.  A.  Forman,  J.  R.  Ealy,  W.H. 
Tucker,  J.  J.  Kennedy,  D.  L.  Irvin,  N.  L.  Slaughter,  J. 
H.  Morton,  G.  R.  Edmondson,  J.  H.  Barner,  R.  L. 
Cherry. 

Deacons,  Robert  McGuire,  J.  Freeman,  N.  R.  Morgan, 
J.  F.  Thomas,  L.  N.  Scott,  Willis  Adams,  J.  H.  McElroy, 
S.  J.  Clemens,  R.  B.  Orndorf,  M.  F.  Gatewood,  Amos 
Howard,  J.  M.  Hurt,  D.  H.  Jones,  S.  Gatewood. 

Preachers,  I.  B.  Walters,  R.  Devine,  T.  H.  Hutchin- 
son, J.  A.  Jones,  J.  Moore. 


332 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


REV.    JAMES    BARTLETT   JOHNSON. 

James  Bartlett  Johnson  was  born  a  slave  in  Taylor 
County,  Ky.,  about  March,  1830.  Like  most  slaves  he 
does  not  know  the  exact  date  of  his  birth.  He  was 
reared  by  a  Christian  mother,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years  was  converted  and  joined  the  Church.     From  his 


REV.  J.   B.  JOHNSON. 

conversion,  he  says,  "I  felt  the  call  to  preach,  but  not 
knowing  how  to  read  I  did  not  answer  my  call  for  ten 
years.  I  bought  a  spelling  book  and  carried  the  same  in 
my  pocket  until  I  learned  to  spell,  and  then  I  soon  learned 
to  read.  I  commenced  the  reading  and  studying  of  the 
Bible,  which  was  continued  for  eight  years  before  I  tried 
to  preach."     In  January,    1853,  Elder  Johnson  married 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       333 

Miss  Mary  A.  Buchanan,  of  the  same  State  and  county  in 
which  he  was  born  and  reared.  She  was  given  her  free- 
dom when  but  three  years  of  age,  in  accordance  with  the 
will  of  her  mistress.  On  February.  22,  1856,  they  were 
separated  ■  by  the  young  husband  being  sold  to  a  slave 
trader  who  carried  him  to  Louisiana.  "  There,"  he  says, 
"  I  preached  my  first  sermon,  in  1858,  though  I  was 
not  allowed  to  claim  that  I  was  even  a  Christian ;  I  or- 
ganized my  first  church,  had  a  revival,  many  souls  were 
converted,  and  God  stood  between  me  and  the  whites,  who 
threatened  to  whip  me  if  I  preached  to  black  people  on 
the  plantation."  In  1861  the  war  broke  out,  and  in  1862 
he  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  serving  three  years  and 
preaching  during  the  time.  A  second  church  was  organ- 
ized, known  as  the  Regimental  Church.  On  December 
24,  1865,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  he  returned  to  Ken- 
tucky and  found  his  wife  and  child,  from  whom  he 
had  been  nine  years  and  nine  months.  The  family 
was  moved  to  Louisville,  Ky.  "Here,"  he  says,  "I 
joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
and  tried  to  hide  the  fact  that  I  was  a  preacher.  How- 
ever, I  could  not  remain  hid,  and  joined  the  Conference 
July  1,  1867.  For  nearly  twenty-six  years  I've  been 
a  member  of  the  Conference  and  steadily  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Church."  Mr.  Johnson  was  ordained  a  deacon 
by  Bishop  W.  Haywood  Bishop,  in  Center  Street  Church, 
Louisville,  July,  1867.  His  first  appointment  was  to  Spring- 
field,  Ky.,  where  he  found  only  twenty-four  members 
and  no  Church  property  at  all ;  in  fact,  at  this  time  Zion 
had  no  property  in  Kentucky.  The  first  of  his  three 
years'  stay  on  this  circuit  he  received  $166  in  salary,  and 


334  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  two  revivals  added  sixty  members  to  the  Springfield 
Church.  Another  church  was  organized,  known  as  the 
Mount  Zion  Church,  with  twenty  members.  Bishop 
Loguen  ordained  him  elder  in  1868.  About  this  time  a 
split  was  made  in  the  church,  and  especially  at  Lebanon, 
Ky.,  was  the  split  so  serious,  being  occasioned  by  Elder 
Miles  (the  late  Bishop  Miles,  of  the  Colored  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church),  that  the  church  was  burned,  and,  the 
members  being  scattered,  the  Conference  combined 
Springfield  and  Lebanon  into  a  circuit  under  Elder  John- 
son. The  church  and  congregation  were  subsequently  re- 
stored, and  both  are  now  stations.  His  next  appoint- 
ment was  Russellville,  Ky.,  where  he  served  from  1870  to 
1872,  holding  several  revivals,  resulting  in  many  addi- 
tions to  the  church  and  raising  money  for  the  erection  of 
a  new  brick  church. 

A  return  of  four  years  to  Springfield  secured  for  that 
congregation  a  new  church  and  ground  costing  $3,300. 
In  1876  it  was  found  necessary  to  send  him  to  Greenville, 
Ky.,  because  the  church  was  not  finished  and  the  con- 
gregation was  split.  The  labors  of  one  Conference  year 
finished  the  church  and  united  the  people,  ready  for  the 
reception  of  the  Conference,  August,  1877.  From  there 
in  1877  h-e  went  to  New  Albany,  Ind.,  served  one  year, 
paid  off  many  debts,  added  many  members  to  the  church, 
and  in  1878  was  appointed  to  the  church  in  Indianapolis, 
where  he  found  that  the  property  had  been  sold.  The 
property  was  secured  again,  and  after  another  year's 
work  he  took  charge  of  Twelfth  Street  Church,  in  Louis- 
ville. A  heavy  debt  was  hanging  over  this  church  and 
several  notes  were  paid  off.     Money  was  also  deposited 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       335 

in  bank  for  the  payment  of  the  next  note,  when  he  was 
appointed,  in  1880,  to  the  Jacob  Street  Tabernacle.  Two 
years  were  spent  here  with  as  many  revivals  and  large 
additions  to  the  church.  Returning  in  1882  to  Twelfth 
Street,  he  resumed  his  task  of  paying  off  the  indebted- 
ness and  in  the  meantime  renovated  and  beautified  the 
church  at  a  cost  of  four  hundred  dollars.  In  1883,  with 
but  little  prospect  of  success,  he  was  sent  to  Bardstown : 
from  there  in  1 884  to  Springfield  for  two  years  more,  build- 
ing one  church  at  Pleasant  Run  and  buying  lumber  for 
another  at  Beachland.  Then,  in  1886,  he  was  made  pre- 
siding elder  under  Bishop  Hood  and  given  charge  of  the 
Second  District.  He  was  on  this  district  six  years,  and 
now  has  charge  of  the  First  District.  For  sixteen  years 
he  has  been  the  steward  of  the  Kentucky  Annual  Con- 
ference. He  has  been  honored  four  times  as  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference.  First,  in  1872,  he  went  to 
New  York  city,  where  the  lamented  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones, 
D.D.,  attempted  to  hold  the  General  Conference  at  the 
usual  time,  but  he  was  not  able  to  do  so  because  the 
majority  of  the  bishops  had  voted  to  hold  it  at  Charlotte, 
N.  C,  about  a  month  later. 

The  next  he  attended  was  in  New  York,  in  1884,  New 
Berne,  N.  C,  1888,  and  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  in  1892.  His 
life  and  Christian  character  have  won  for  him  the  esteem 
of  everyone,  and  in  the  Kentucky  Conference  no  man  is 
more  respected. 

Seven  children  have  been  born  during  the  happy  union, 
covering  now  a  period  of  over  thirty  years.  Of  this  num- 
ber only  two  reached  their  majority ;  the  oldest,  Mrs. 
Nannie  J.  Demby,  died  July  27,  1877,  leaving  a  husband 


336  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

and  two  children.  Benjamin  A.  Johnson,  now  a  young 
man  of  twenty-five  years  of  age,  is  the  only  child  living, 
and  is  one  of  the  instructors  in  Livingstone  College,  from 
which  institution  he  graduated  in  1 890,  receiving  the  de- 
gree of  A.B. 

TENNESSEE  CONFERENCE. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  Tennessee  Conference  is 
furnished  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Ferguson  : 

"  The  Tennessee  Conference  was  organized  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  October 
6,  1868,  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  The  first  two  annual  sessions  were  held 
in  the  above  named  city.  Elder  J.  W.  Loguen,  who  was  afterward  made 
bishop,  organized  the  first  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in 
the  State  at  Knoxville. 

"  Rev.  Alfred  E.  Anderson,  A.  B.  Kline,  H.  Debose,  Henry  Rowley,  J.  A. 
Tyler,  John  Dogan,  T.  A.  Hopkins,  W.  H.  Hilliary,  and  others  were  among 
the  founders.  Bishop  Clinton  held  four  annual  sessions.  During  his 
episcopal  stay  the  work  increased  very  rapidly.  More  than  six  thousand 
members  were  added  in  the  period  mentioned  above.  East  Tennessee, 
Western  North  Carolina,  or  that  part  of  it  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  North- 
ern Georgia,  and  Southwestern  Virginia  were  well  organized. 

"When  Bishop  S.  D.  Talbot  took  charge  of  the  district  in  1870  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  was  the  most  influential  Church 
in  all  the  territory  named  above.  There  was  no  opposition  to  our  onward 
march.  During  Bishop  Talbot's  administration  hundreds  were  added  to 
the  Church.  The  bishop  added,  comparatively  speaking,  a  new  set  of 
ministers  to  the  Conference.  Many  of  the  original  members  had  trans- 
ferred, and  some  had  joined  other  denominations  that  had  been  created. 

"  Rev.  James  A.  Zachary,  Robert  R.  Russell,  Thomas  Warren,  Joseph 
Pugh,  J.  P.  Jay,  Henry  Tipton,  John  N.  Brown,  D.  W.  Wells,  W.  H. 
Ferguson,  and  James  D.  Rogers  were  among  those  who  composed  the 
Conference  when  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  took  charge  in  the  fall  of  1872. 
It  is  fair  to  say  when  he  came  to  the  district  it  was  in  its  most  flour- 
ishing state.  He  presided  over  the  Conference  for  ten  years.  During 
this  period  numbers  were  added  to  the  Church,  and  many  of  them 
drifted  away  into  other  denominations  that  offered  better  facilities  for  edu- 
cating them  than  our  beloved  Zion  at  that  time  could  afford.  Several 
efforts  were  made  during  the  ten  years  to  establish  a  high  school,  but  all 
failed.     The  Presbyterian  and  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches  are  princi- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       337 

pally  made  up  in  East  Tennessee  of  members  from  our  Church.  This  is 
not  generally  known  outside  of  the  territory  referred  to. 

"  For  fifteen  years  our  Church  had  undisturbed  reign  in  East  Tennessee. 
Since  that  time  we  have  only  managed  to  hold  our  own.  Bishop  W.  H. 
Hilliary  held  one  annual  session  of  the  Conference,  and  added  nothing 
materially  to  the  Conference  ;  if  anything,  he  imbued  a  few  of  the  ministers 
with  an  indifferent  spirit  about  the  growth  of  the  Church.  Bishop  J.  P. 
Thompson  held  one  session.  He  was  loved  and  respected  by  a  majority 
of  the  ministers. 

"  There  was  no  advancement  during  these  two  years  in  the  sural  dis- 
tricts. The  larger  towns  and  cities  held  their  own.  When  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood,  D.D.,  came  to  the  district  he  found  the  work  in  a  dormant  state. 
This  was  not  without  cause.  Rev.  D.  W.  Wells,  with  over  six  hundred 
members,  had  rebelled  and  gone  out  of  the  connection  at  Knoxville.  The 
Conference  has  never  completely  recovered  from  the  shock.  Several 
small  charges  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Knoxville  rebellion.  Bishop 
Hood,  however,  was  not  discouraged.  Feeling  that  he  was  equal  to  the  situ- 
ation, he  went  to  work,  and  in  less  than  six  months  had  the  entire  district  in 
a  growing  condition.  He  won  the  confidence  of  both  clergy  and  laity. 
The  waste  places  of  Zion  began  to  rebuild,  and  in  two  years'  time  the  mem- 
bership nearly  doubled  itself,  new  churches  sprang  up,  and  confidence  was 
once  more  established  on  the  part  of  the  people. 

"  Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D.,  the  present  incumbent,  has  had  charge  of 
the  work  five  years  up  to  date.  The  Conference  has  had  a  steadygrowth. 
The  General  Fund  has  more  than  doubled  itself.  Good  churches  have 
been  erected  throughout  the  bounds  of  the  Conference.  The  Greenville 
High  School  has  been  made  a  fixture.  It  has  over  one  hundred  regular 
pupils  in  daily  attendance,  with  three  teachers.  R.  E.  Toomey,  A.M.,  is 
principal.  Rev.  B.  M.  Gudger,  now  one  of  the  most  prominent  ministers 
in  the  connection,  was  the  originator  of  this  school.  The  property  is 
worth  ten  thousand  dollars. 

"  The  Weekly  Watchman,  a  Conference  journal  issued  weekly  by  the 
Conference,  is  the  most  promising  sheet  in  the  connection  aside  from 
the  Star  of  Zion.  It  was  founded  January  1,  1891,  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Fer- 
guson, A.M.,  at  Athens,  Tenn.  The  paper  has  had  much  to  do  in  form- 
ing and  molding  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  our  Church.  It  was  through 
its  columns  the  donation  that  opened  the  Greenville  High  School  was  ob- 
tained. The  office  is  worth  eight  hundred  dollars.  The  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence represents  one  hundred  thousand  dollars'  worth  of  Church  and  school 
property.  The  Conference  was  divided  in  1892.  Among  the  more  active  men 
we  would  mention  B.  M.  Gudger,  T.  J.  Manson,  F.  M.  Jacobs,  A.  S.  Mon- 
roe, J.  W.  Wright,  J.  H.  Manley,  D.D.,  W.  H.  Ferguson,  A.M.,  J.  H.  Star- 
ling, M.  M.  Montgomery,  George  W.  Christmas,  E.  J.  Harris,  B.  J.  Arnold, 


338  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

L.  S.  Baker,  T.  F.  H.  Blackman,  F.  R.  White,  H.  Bayless,  A.  G.  Kesler,  H. 
B.  Moss,  A.  L.  Cowan,  B.  F.  Tipton,  J.  T.  Gaskill,  D.  B.  Branner,  F.  A. 
Mouldin,  William  Walton,  J.  D.  Rodgers,  and  M.  M.  Morris. 
"  The  Conference  bids  fair  to  be  one  among  the  strongest." 


The  following  is  the  roll  of  members  of  the  Tennessee 
Conference : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elders,  T.  F.  H.  Blackman,  F.  R.  White,  M. 
M.  Montgomery,  H.  Bayless,  A.  G.  Kesler,  T.  J.  Manson. 

Elders,  F.  M.  Jacobs,  A.B.,  L.  S.  Baker,  A.  J.  Jones, 
J.  E.  Kilgore,  N.  N.  Norris,  F.  A.  Mouldin,  J.  H.  Star- 
ling, A.  L.  Cowan,  James  T.  Gaskill,  J.  H.  Manley, 
Jordan  Alexander,  J.  J.  Allen,  George  Christmas,  E.  J. 
Harris,  H.  B.  Moss,  E.  J.  Carter,  A.  S.  Monroe,  J.  A. 
Bowerman,  J.  J.  Kelly,  M.  M.  Morris,  George  Brazleton, 
J.  D.  Rodgers,  William  Walton,  B.  F.  Tipton,  J.  W. 
Wright,  William  P.  Mouldin,  Thomas  Taylor,  B.  J. 
Arnold,  W.  F.  Fenderson,  D.  J.  Young,  C.  C.  Snowden, 
T.  H.  Braxton,  George  W.  Hampton. 

Deacons,  R.  R.  Mouldin,  W.  H.  Frazier,  D.  D.  Goode, 
P.  Moore,  H.  S.  Brown,  B.  H.  Stanford,  S.  T.  Davis,  J. 
L.  Matthews,  J.  M.  Barnes,  G.  P.  Barnes,  Lewis  Donald- 
son, B.  B.  Brown,  J.  L.  McDonald,  D.  C.  Calaway,  D.  S. 
Howard,  G.  W.  James,  B.  F.  Johnson,  W.  C.  Vanhook, 
E.  H.  Henry,  A.  B.  Morrow,  A.  S.  Henry,  D.  B.  Bran- 
ner, Joseph  Wilson,  William  Johnson,  F.  M.  Jordan, 
Gilbert  Smith,  J.  D.  Gaither,  J.  P.  Pitlet,  E.  D.  Brooks, 
R.  Gaither. 

Preachers  in  Full  Connection,  J.  M.  Connell,  G.  W.  Wash- 
ington, C.  H.  Madison,  J.  M.  Barnes,  Claiborne  Henry, 
Josie  Mayes,  George  Shields. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     339 

Preachers  on  Trial,  B.  F.  Felder,  H.  Flouse,  A.  F. 
Wear,  T.  B.  Hackett,  J.  F.  Houston,  William  Anderson, 
C.  B.  Tate,  R.  D.  Chandler,  L.  J.  Lee,  William  Lyons, 
A.  B.  Rorex. 

REV.  A.   G.   KESLER, 

Presiding  Elder  of  the  Knoxville  District  of  the  East  Ten- 
nessee,   Virginia,  and  North  Carolina  Conference. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Roan  County, 
ten  miles  east  of  Salisbury,  in  the  State  of  North  Caro- 
lina, December  28,  1842.  When  but  a  child  he  was  sold, 
and  thus  he,  as  was  the  usage  of  the  time,  took  the  name 
of  his  second  owner. 

In  1857  he  became  earnestly  awakened  as  to  the  needs 
of  the  soul.  He  was  convinced  through  the  preaching 
of  Rev.  Mr.  Barrett,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South.  In  1858  he  connected  himself  with  the  Providence 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South.  He  began  to  learn 
the  alphabet  at  the  age  of  six  or  seven  years.  So  desirous  of 
an  education  was  he  that  in  some  peculiar  way  he  secured 
a  tutor  and.  attended  night  school.  This  was  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  customs  of  the  times,  but  like  many  others,  he 
secured  for  himself  a  knowledge  of  the  common  branches 
of  an  English  education.  This  composed  the  scholastic 
life  of  this  successful  minister,  determined  church  builder, 
and  successful  Gospel  preacher.  His  education  amply 
prepared  him  for  the  work  he  expected  to  enter  when  a 
child  and  has  so  ably  prosecuted  since  matured  to  man- 
hood. He  has  shown  himself  a  minister  approved  of 
God.  He  makes  no  pretensions  to  great  learning,  but 
is  an  ardent  friend  of  higher  education  for  the  race, 
and  especially  for  the  Negro  ministry.       He  evidenced 


340 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


this  in  later  years  by  contributing  with,  willingness  to 
the  support  of  Rev.  J.  C.  Price  while  attending  college, 
and  since  his  graduation  and  presidency  of  Livingstone 
College  he  has  endeavored  to  prove  himself  the  friend 
that  he  was  to  that  institution  by  a  hearty  response  to  every 
call  made  upon  him  for  the  advancement  of  its  interests 


REV.    A.    G.    KESLER. 

and  permanent  establishment.  He  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  Winslow,  of  Beaufort,  N.  C,  in  1863.  She  was  a 
helpmeet  indeed.  But  God  saw  fit  to  remove  her  from 
the  world — from  labor  to  reward — in  1877.  He  was  again 
married,  in  1885,  to  Mrs.  N.  A.  Spriggs,  of  New  Berne, 
N.  C,  July  25. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       34 1 

The  first  knowledge  Brother  Kesler  got  of  the  Zion 
Society  was  at  the  time  of  its  organization  at  Salisbury, 
N.  C,  in  the  fall  of  1865,  by  Rev.  William  H.  Pitts. 
Before  this  organization  he  had  removed  to  Salisbury 
and  was  a  prominent  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  at  that  place.  When  Rev.  Pitts  began 
the  advocacy  of  the  division  of  the  colored  members  from 
the  whites  and  the  organization  of  a  colored  society  he 
was  among  the  first  to  join  him  in  this  undertaking,  and 
was  a  member  of  the  organization  of  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church  at  this  place  in  1865.  Long 
before  this  time  he  felt  that  God  had  called  him  to  carry 
the  word  to  the  poor  and  teach  all  men  by  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel.  But  in  the  days  of  slavery  he  was 
not  accorded  the  privilege  of  his  call.  He,  however, 
looked  forward  to  and  earnestly  prayed  for  the  time  to 
come  when  he  could  be  free  to  exercise  the  functions  of 
a  Gospel  minister,  satisfying  himself  with  what  he  was 
allowed  to  do  at  prayer  meetings  and  class  meetings  by 
the  permission  of  his  superior,  the  white  pastor.  He  felt 
that  in  the  organization  of  the  colored  society  his  prayers 
had  been  answered,  and  he  hailed  the  day  with  joy  and 
thanksgiving  to  his  God.  Accordingly  he  joined  with 
willing  heart  the  new  organization,  and  began  laboring 
for  and  serving  his  Lord  as  if  in  a  new  atmosphere  and 
in  a  clime  more  invigorating  and  pleasant.  God  signally 
blessed  the  new  society,  and  it  grew  rapidly.  In  1865 
he  made  application  for  and  received  local  preacher's 
license  under  Rev.  B.  Hampton  Taylor,  Presiding  Elder 
of  the  Salisbury,  or  Western,  District  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Conference  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 


342  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Church.  In  this  capacity  he  served  till  1867,  and  was 
responsible  to  the  Quarterly  Conference  of  the  Salisbury 
Church.  While  serving  in  this  capacity  he  organized 
the  society  at  Trot's  School  House,  now  known  as  the 
Second  Creek  Church. 

In  1867  the  Annual  Conference  met  at  Fayetteville, 
N.  C.  At  this  session,  according  to  the  rule  then  pre- 
vailing, he  was  recommended  by  his  presiding  elder  as  a 
suitable  person  to  join  the  traveling  connection ;  the 
Conference  accepted  the  recommendation,  and  he  was 
appointed  to  the  pastorate  of  the  Salisbury  Station.  He 
had  been  one  of  the  leading  factors  in  the  building  of 
the  church  at  this  place  from  the  time  of  its  organization 
to  its  completion.  Little  did  he  know  that  his  appoint- 
ment would  prove  a  godsend  to  that  church,  for  while 
serving  his  first  year  a  storm  felled  the  building  to  the 
ground.  He,  with  the  assistance  of  his  faithful  colabor- 
ers,  began  work  at  once,  and  by  the  time  the  Conference 
convened  he  had  built  a  more  magnificent  structure 
than  the  former  one,  built  by  Rev.  T.  H.  Henderson 
while  he  was  a  lay  member  of  that  church. 

At  the  next  Conference,  1868,  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Second  Creek  Circuit  by  Right  Rev.  John  J.  Moore, 
D.D.  Here  he  remained  two  years,  having  been  reap- 
pointed in  1869. 

At  the  Conference  of  1870  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Cedar  Grove  Circuit,  continuing  for  two  terms.  During 
the  first  year  he  organized  the  church  at  China  Grove,  or 
Sandy  Ridge,  as  it  is  now  called.  At  this  place  there 
had  been  failures  till  he  came.  He  found  the  people  dis- 
couraged of  ever  perfecting  any  organization,  and  decided 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       343 

to  abandon  the  idea.  He  preached  his  first  sermons  to 
them  in  an  old  arbor  out  in  the  open  field.  These 
efforts  brought  about  new  zeal,  and  the  people  became 
newly  aroused  and  in  better  spirits,  deciding  to  follow  as 
he  led.  Knowing  no  failure,  he  went  forward,  success 
crowning  his  efforts. 

He  purchased  at  this  place  a  site  and  built  a 
church  in  1870.  In  the  same  period  he  built  a  church 
at  Hatter  Shop,  near  the  place  where  he  found  Christ. 
Here  there  had  been  many  failures,  but  God  evidenced 
his  pleasure  and  seal  of  his  calling  by  again  giving  him 
success  where  others  had  failed.  In  1872  he  was  assigned 
to  the  Cedar  Grove  Circuit,  three  of  the  churches  being 
in  Iredell  County  and  three  in  Rowan  County.  In  that 
year  the  church  at  Sill's  Creek  was  erected  under  his  di- 
rection and  superintendence. 

In  1868,  in  the  interval  of  the  Annual  Conference, 
Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  ordained  him  with  three  others  to 
the  order  of  deacon  in  the  Church.  All  except  himself 
have  gone  to  their  reward  and  have  refreshed  them- 
selves after  their  labors.  He  pastored  all  the  churches 
of  his  native  county,  laboring  for  God  and  Zion,  and 
principally  supporting  himself  by  his  trade,  a  tanner. 
The  year  1872  closed  his  career  in  this  section  of  the 
country,  and  well  did  he  serve  the  Church  and  the  cause 
of  his  Master. 

At  the  Conference  which  met  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C, 

in  1872,  he  was  ordained  an  elder  by  Right  Rev.  James 

W.  Hood,  D.D.,  and  assigned  to  the  Granville  Circuit  in 

Granville   County.       Here  he    remained    till   1877.       He 

built  Mount  Moriah,   Kesler's  Temple,  Harris's  Chapel, 
24 


344  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

and  St.  Mary's  during  the  five  years  he  remained  on  the 
work.  He  feels  that  the  end  of  this  pastorate  was  the 
most  brilliant  of  all  the  successes  he  has  had  since  he  has 
been  preaching.  He  found  when  he  went  on  the  work 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  members;  but  when  he 
left  the  membership  had  increased  to  about  nine  hun- 
dred or  one  thousand,  and  two  new  societies  had  been 
organized.  In  1868  and  1869  he  was  at  Wadesboro; 
here  he  found  an  old  open  building  and  the  people  dis- 
couraged. He  began  in  his  usual  way  to  excite  an 
interest  in  the  people,  which  resulted  in  the  erection  of 
a  very  creditable  edifice.  In  1880  and  1881  he  was  as- 
signed to  the  pastorate  at  Kinston,  N.  C.  He  remained 
here  two  years,  and  erected  a  very  creditable  church  in 
a  more  suitable  section  of  the  place,  where,  as  he  felt, 
better  success  would  attend  the  labors  of  the  society. 

In  1882  he  was  assigned  to  the  Jonesboro  Circuit. 
Here  he  remained  one  year,  and  completed  the  churches 
at  Paradise  and  Norrington,  and  raised  a  good  amount 
to  assist  in  the  purchase  of  the  church  at  Raleigh. 

In  1884  he  was  assigned  to  the  Shelby  Circuit.  Dur- 
ing the  first  year  he  purchased  a  sufficient  amount  of  ma- 
terial to  erect  a  church  building,  but  by  reason  of  an 
appointment  that  operated  against  the  connection  the 
church  was  not  built  for  Zion,  his  successor  having 
revolted.  He  also  collected  material  for  the  erection  of 
the  church  at  King's  Mountain,  a  part  of  the  circuit. 

The  failure  of  the  year  succeeding  his  pastorate  there 
caused  him  much  pain,  inasmuch  as  he  had  made  such 
great  sacrifices  for  the  church  at  Shelby,  and  the  work 
he  had   done  went    in    the    way  it  did  because    proper 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       345 

judgment  had  not  been  exercised  in  the  appointment  of 
his  successor.  This  to  some  extent  blasted  his  energies 
for  a  time,  and  he  was  somewhat  discouraged  in  conse- 
quence. He  felt  that  he  ought  to  have  been  allowed  to 
perfect  the  work  he  had  so  well  begun. 

The  next  appointment  was  Mount  Pleasant  Circuit. 
Not  much  was  accomplished  beyond  keeping  the  church 
together.  The  reason  given  for  this  inactivity  was  that  he 
felt  he  had  not  been  dealt  with  justly  the  year  before,  and 
what  he  had  done  had  been  so  wantonly  squandered. 

In  1885  he  was  assigned  to  the  pastorate  at  Morgan  ton. 
Grand  temporal  and  especial  spiritual  success  attended 
his  labors  here.  Perhaps  the  greatest  revival  Morganton 
has  ever  had  was  conducted  by  him;  so  say  the  people. 
This  ended  his  labors  in  the  Carolina  Conferences. 

In  1886  he  was  transferred  to  the  Tennessee  Conference 
by  Right  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  and  was  appointed 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Asheville  District,  to  finish  the 
term  of  Rev.  W.  H.  Ferguson,  who  had  been  transferred 
to  the  New  York  Conference.  He  was  reluctant  in  sub- 
mitting to  the  change,  but  at  last  consented  at  the  earnest 
request  of  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  then  bishop  over 
the  Tennessee  Conference.  In  this  capacity  he  served 
four  years  and  a  half.  The  district  has  been  blessed 
with  many  new  organizations  and  new  church  edifices. 
There  were  few  churches  on  the  work  there  suitable  for 
winter  services ;  but  by  the  usual  energy  characterizing 
his  labors  he  went  to  work,  and  now  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  there  are  as  many  churches  on  the  work  suitable  for 
all-year  services  as  on  any  district  in  the  connection,  all 
things  taken  into  consideration. 


346  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Although  he  has  labored  incessantly  through  twenty- 
seven  years,  bridging  many  hardships  and  doing  the 
work  of  an  evangelist,  he  is  yet  quite  as  active  as  most 
of  our  young  men.  He  has  been  five  times  elected  a 
delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of  the  Church,  and 
always  advocates  advanced  thought  both  in  that  body 
and  upon  the  floor  of  the  Annual  Conferences.  He  is 
a  devoted  Christian  and  a  man  possessed  of  rare  piety, 
universally  beloved  by  those  who  know  him  and  respected 
by  all  for  his  becoming  demeanor  in  public  and  private 
life.  F.  M.  Jacobs. 

REV.    FREDERICK   M.    JACOBS,    A.B.,   B.D. 

Frederick  M.  Jacobs  was  born  at  Camden,  Kershaw 
County,  S.  C.  His  parents  were  Benjamin  and  Han- 
nah Jacobs.  Frederick  was  placed  in  school  at  the 
early  age  of  six  years,  remaining  until  he  had  com- 
pleted the  common  English  course.  Thirsting  for  knowl- 
edge, he  entered  the  Jackson  College,  preparatory  to  the 
South  Carolina  University,  which  he  entered  in  1873. 
He  was  rapidly  advancing  when  the  partisan  politics  of 
the  State  changed  from  Republican  to  Democratic,  which 
faction,  by  legislation  in  1877,  disallowed  to  Negro  stu- 
dents the  privilege  of  attending,  and  closed  these  doors 
of  learning  against  young  men  anxious  to  perfect  them- 
selves. This  checked  for  a  time  the  scholastic  prepara- 
tions of  our  subject,  but  his  aspirations  for  a  higher 
development  could  not  be  daunted  even  by  a  judicial 
enactment. 

In  1880,  just  when  he  was  in  a  position  to  assist,  both 
his  mother  and  father  died,  which   added  still  greater 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       347 

difficulties  to  the  completion  of  his  college  course.  Being 
constitutionally  ambitious,  he  sedulously  applied  himself 
to  private  study,  under  efficient  teachers  in  the  Charles- 
ton   Military    College,   devoting   his  spare  time    to  his 


REV.    F.    M.   JACOBS,    A.B.,    B.D. 

trades  of  photographing,  butchering,  brick  masonry,  and 
barbering. 

While  at  Charleston  he  felt  the  need  of  a  Saviour  to 
pardon  him  of  his  sins,  that  he  might  become  an  object 
of  God's  love  and  mercy.     Having  been  reared  by  very 


348  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

careful  and  pious  persons,  he  felt  that  his  moral  training- 
was  almost  sufficient  unto  salvation.  But  it  was  under 
the  preaching  of  Revs.  Segare,  of  the  Baptist  Church, 
and  Laurence,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  that 
he  saw  himself  the  sinner  he  was ;  for  three  months 
he  wrestled  with  Satan  and  sin,  and  by  continual  suppli- 
cation to  the  Spirit  for  aid  and  for  the  blessing  he  tri- 
umphed and  was  adopted  into  the  heavenly  household. 
Being  undecided  as  to  what  Church  doctrine  suited  him 
best,  he  did  not  connect  himself  with  any  until  he  had 
fully  settled  in  his  mind  this  one  very  important  step. 
He  became  acquainted  with  the  clergy  of  each  denomina- 
tion in  the  city,  and  learned  from  them  the  leading  doc- 
trines and  usages  of  their  respective  Churches.  In  1882 
he  went  to  Charlotte,  N.  C,  where  he  became  acquainted 
with  Rev.  R.  S.  Rieves,  D.D.,  and  after  gaining  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  progressive  spirit  and  scriptural  doctrines  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  he  decided 
to  join  it,  sought  admission,  and  was  received  into  the 
Church  and  baptized  by  that  faithful  servant  of  God, 
Dr.  Rieves. 

He  applied  for  license  to  preach,  and  the  Quarterly 
Conference,  presided  over  by  that  dignified  and  scholarly 
presiding  elder,  J.  A.  Tyler,  granted  him  a  license. 
The  fall  of  that  year  he  joined  the  Central  North  Carolina 
Conference,  but  feeling  that  he  would  like  to  be  prepared 
fully  for  the  work  he  decided  to  reenter  college.  In 
1884  he  left  North  Carolina  and  entered  Howard  Uni- 
versity, at  Washington,  D.  C,  to  review  the  college 
studies  and  take  the  regular  three  years'  course  in  the 
seminary,  from  which  he  graduated  with  the  degree  of 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       349 

A.B.  in  1888.  In  1886  he  joined  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference,  presided  over  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood.  At  that  Conference,  for  proficiency  in  the  studies 
examined,  Bishop  Hood,  to  encourage  him,  gave  him  a 
copy  of  his  sermons  and  ordered  his  name  added  to  the  list 
of  candidates  to  be  examined  for  deacons'  orders.  By  re- 
quest of  Dr.  Dyson  he  was  appointed  junior  pastor  of 
the  Wesley  Zion  Church,  Washington,  D.  C,  of  which 
Dr.  Dyson  was  then  pastor  in  charge. 

In  1887,  while  still  pursuing  his  course  at  the  univer- 
sity, he  was  appointed  city  missionary  for  Washington. 
Two  months  after  the  session  of  the  Conference  a  vacancy 
occurred  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  by  the  transfer  of  Rev.  M. 
H.  Ross  to  the  Genesee  Conference.  The  members  be- 
came discouraged  and  scattered  like  sheep  gone  astray. 
Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax  appointed  him  to  take  charge  and 
fill  the  vacancy.  He  went  immediately  about  the  work, 
discouraged,  yet  he  felt  assured  that  God  would  assist 
him.  Zion  had  lost  its  standing;  the  Church  had  gone 
to  naught;  there  was  literally  no  congregation,  but  ere 
the  Conference  convened  the  membership  had  been  in- 
creased from  almost  nothing  to  226.  He  was  zealous  of 
his  Zion's  interest,  and  wanted  to  see  her  as  strong  in 
Baltimore  as  any  other  church.  He  searched  the  sections 
of  the  city  for  a  suitable  site  to  build  the  church  he  so 
well  loved.  There  had  been  an  organization  in  North 
Baltimore,  but  it  had  been  abandoned.  Finding  the  place, 
and  one  or  two  Zion  members,  he  got  together  others  to 
the  number  of  thirteen,  and  reorganized  the  Clinton 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Mission,  placing  it 
under  the  care  of  a  local  preacher,  Rev.  Johnson.     Still 


350  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

desirous  of  spreading  Zion  in  the  city,  he  took  another  of 
his  local  preachers,  Rev.  Samuel  I.  Mills,  found  a  suit- 
able locality  in  the  western  part  of  the  city,  rented  a 
house,  and  organized  a  Sabbath  school  of  over  forty  chil- 
dren. After  the  first  Sunday  he  authorized  Rev.  Mills 
to  hold  divine  services,  and  called  the  people  who  attended 
to  meet  him  on  Wednesday  night,  upon  which  night  he 
organized  an  entirely  new  society,  composed  of  nine 
members,  and  named  it  the  Mount  Olive  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church.  The  mother  Church  entered 
a  protest  against  the  new  Church,  but  he  was  determined 
that  Zion  should  occupy  an  unoccupied  ground  in  that 
place.  A  revival  started,  and  when  Conference  convened 
the  new  Mount  Olive  Church  was  received  into  the  con- 
nection at  the  session  held  in  Washington,  D.  C,  1888, 
with  seventy-nine  members.  The  mother  Church  'in 
Baltimore  sent  a  strong  petition  to  the  Conference  for 
his  return  for  another  year,  but  he  did  not  desire  to  re- 
turn, thinking  that  he  had  sacrificed  enough  for  the 
church  at  that  point.  He  was  ordained  an  elder  at  this 
Conference  in  1888,  in  John  Wesley  Church,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  by  Bishop  Lomax,  and  was  appointed  to  the 
pastorate  of  the  Wesley  Union  Church,  Harrisburg,  Pa., 
to  succeed  Rev.  G.  W.  Offiey.  There  was  a  small  debt 
remaining  on  the  church  for  repairs,  made  under  Rev. 
R.  J.  Daniels,  which  was  cancelled  during  his  first  year's 
pastorate.  This  appointment  was  made  six  weeks  before 
the  graduating  exercises  at  Howard  University,  but  the 
faculty  permitted  him  to  go  on  to  his  charge  and  at  the 
proper  time  return  and  take  the  examination,  which  he 
did,  standing  second  in  the  class  of  '88. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     35  I 

At  the  Conference  in  York,  Pa.,  in  1889,  Bishop  S.  T. 
Jones  reappointed  him  to  the  Wesley  Union  Church. 
A  vacancy  occurred  in  the  West  Harrisburg  Church,  the 
second  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  by  the 
transfer  of  Rev.  J.  F.  Waters  to  the  New  England  Con- 
ference. Bishop  Jones  wrote  to  him  to  hold  both  the 
churches  until  he  could  secure  a  minister.  After  preach- 
ing- at  his  own,  the  first  church,  often  he  would  go  out 
and  preach  a  second  sermon  in  the  same  night's  service. 
With  the  assistance  of  his  local  preachers  he  held  these 
two  city  churches,  both  having  two  services  per  day,  for 
three  months.  During  this  year  the  church  at  Mechan- 
icsburg,  Pa. ,  was  about  to  be  sold ;  hearing  of  it,  he  set 
about  securing  the  money,  none  too  soon  to  save  it  to  the 
connection. 

At  the  Conference  which  met  at  Baltimore  he  was 
transferred  to  the  East  Tennessee  Conference,  filling  out 
an  unexpired  term,  until  the  Conference  met  at  Chatta- 
nooga, Tenn.,  October,  1890.  He  was  then  assigned  to 
Hopkins  Chapel,  Asheville,  N.  C.  During  the  first  year 
all  outstanding  debts  were  paid  and  a  handsome  five- 
room  parsonage  was  built  and  paid  for.  God  signally 
blessed  the  church  with  spiritual  gifts  and  many  acces- 
sions. He  was  returned  in  1891,  and  after  many 
attempts  and  many  failures  the  West  Asheville  Mission 
Church  was  established.  A  lot  was  purchased  and  all 
but  $33  paid  on  it.  The  most  peculiar  thing  in  the 
organization  of  the  second  church  in  the  city  proper  was 
that  Rev.  Jacobs  bought  and  paid  for  the  new  church 
lot,  with  the  assistance  of  the  officers  and  members  of 
the  first  church,  Hopkins  Chapel.     The  second  church 


352  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

shows  promise  of  being  the  leading  church  of  that  place. 
At  the  Conference  of  1891,  which  met  at  Maryville, 
Tenn.,  he  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence which  convened  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  1892.  Pursuant 
to  this  meeting  he  precipitated  discussion  which  resulted 
in  the  organization  of  the  mission  department  in  the 
Church.  He  was  a  candidate  for  the  position  of  General 
Secretary  of  Missions,  but  by  the  earnest  request  of 
friends  consented  to  enter  the  race  for  General  Steward, 
receiving  the  second  best  vote,  Rev.  J.  W.  Alstork  re- 
ceiving the  greatest  number.  Bishop  Hood  appointed 
him  one  of  a  commission  to  meet  a  similar  commission 
from  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  to  formu- 
late plans  and  basis  of  organic  union  between  the  two 
bodies,  and  to  decide  upon  a  name  for  the  new  united 
church.  In  the  election  of  the  members  of  the  General 
Board  of  Education  he  was  chosen  as  one  to  represent 
the  Fifth  Episcopal  District.  In  1892,  at  the  Conference 
which  met  in  Bristol,  Tenn.,  he  was  assigned  to  Logan 
Temple,  Knoxville,  Tenn.  Here  he  met  stubborn  condi- 
tions he  had  not  expected.  The  church  was  under 
mortgage  to  secure  a  loan  to  cancel  the  debt  so  long 
standing.  The  church  and  public  had  been  informed 
that  Logan  Temple  was  free  from  debt ;  when  the  truth 
was  known  it  fell  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  people. 
There  was  a  very  short  time  left  in  which  to  raise  the 
money.  The  people  were  discouraged,  and  it  required 
much  care  that  the  forces  and  friends  of  former  pastors 
might  render  assistance.  Opposed  by  many,  yet  encour- 
aged by  a  few,  he  set  about  to  raise  the  necessary  money 
to  liquidate  the  debt  upon  the  church  and  save  it  to  Zion. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       353 

It  seemed  that  he  would  fail,  but  single-handed  and 
alone  he  gave  a  "World's  Fair"  entertainment,  from 
which  he  cleared  a  sufficient  amount  to  save  the  church 
and  stay  any  proceedings.  Before  the  Conference  year 
ended  the  debt  had  been  paid  off,  and  the  church,  Logan 
Temple,  one  of  the  most  imposing  structures  and  impor- 
tant charges  in  the  connection,  was  cleared  of  all  embar- 
rassment, mortgages,  deeds  of  trust,  and  notes. 

Brother   Jacobs  has    for   his  lifetime    companion    the 
daughter  of  Bishop  Lomax,  a  most  worthy  helpmeet. 

VIRGINIA  CONFERENCE. 
This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton 
in  1866.  There  were  about  twenty-five  preachers  present 
at  the  organization.  We  write  from  memory.  Among 
the  number  were  the  following:  Rev.  J.  B.  Trusty,  from 
the  Philadelphia  Conference ;  Revs.  Noble  L.  Johns  and 
James  Howell,  from  the  New  York  Conference ;  Rev. 
John  Williams,  A.  M.  Ferribee,  Jeffrey  Overton,  and  J. 
W.  Hood,  from  the  North  Carolina  Conference ;  also  the 
following  became  members  at  this  session,  namely: 
Charles  Heath,  James  Crocker,  J.  McH.  Farley,  Griffin 
Irby,  Chapel  Irby,  Wyatt  Walker,  Elliston  Overton,  W. 
C.  Butler,  Samuel  Sunderlin,  and  William  Howard  Day. 
Brother  Day  was  ordained  an  elder  at  this  session.  If 
lie  had  taken  work  in  that  Conference  at  that  time,  and 
had  bent  his  best  effort  to  the  work  of  building  up  that 
Conference,  Zion  might  easily  have  been  as  strong  in 
Virginia  as  she  is  in  North  Carolina.  He  was  very  much 
better  equipped  than  any  other  man  we  had  in  the  South 
at  that  time. 


354  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Dr.  Day  has  sometimes  been  spoken  of  in  connection 
with  the  bishopric.  If  he  had  captured  Virginia  for  Zion 
it  would  have  been  impossible  to  have  kept  him  out  of 
the  bishopric.  His  extraordinary  ability,  and  the  forces 
of  his  own  making,  would  have  pushed  his  claims,  which 
would  have  been  irresistible.  We  have  a  notion  that 
there  comes  to  every  man  a  special  opportunity  in  this 
life ;  some  even  have  more  than  one,  but  it  is  never 
entirely  safe  to  neglect  the  first  opportunity. 

The  Virginia  Conference  was  laid  off  to  embrace  all 
that  portion  of  Virginia  which  lies  south  of  the  James 
River,  except  what  is  included  in  the  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence, and  also  fourteen  counties  in  the  northeast  part  of 
North  Carolina.  Eight  of  the  counties  in  North  Carolina 
and  eight  in  Virginia  have  been  pretty  well  occupied. 
There  are  now  three  presiding  elders'  districts,  all  well 
arranged  and  presided  over  by  good,  efficient  men. 

This  has  led  all  the  other  Southern  Conferences  in 
raising  the  General  Fund  in  proportion  to  membership, 
and  is  in  every  respect  among  the  very  best  Conferences, 
both  as  to  ministers  and  membership.  The  three  pre 
siding  elders  were  all  raised  up  in  this  Conference.  The 
moral  character  of  the  men  is  such  that  it  has  not  been 
necessary  for  several  years  to  appoint  a  committee  on 
complaints.     The  present  roll  is  as  follows : 

Presiding  Bishop,  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elders,  Rev.  R.  A.  Fisher,  C.  W.  Winfield, 
T.  R.  V.  Harrison. 

Conference  Steward,  Rev.  A.  L.  Newby. 

Elders,  Charles  Heath,  Samuel  Story,  Nathaniel  Davis, 
J.    C.   Coleman,    J.    H.   Wilson,    M.    N.    Levey,    H.    C. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       355 

Phillips,  C.  W.  Jones,  Joseph  Woodhouse,  S.  M.  G. 
Copeland,  S.  P.  Cook,  W.  H.  Snowden,  E.  Overton,  H. 
H.  Whitbee,  J.  L.  Overton,  D.  W.  Bowe,  A.  Pindle, 
J.  R.  Davis,  O.  G.  Jenkins,  J.  L.  Griffin,  J.  T.  Lowery, 
H.  B.  Jones,  M.  Gordon,  J.  McH.  Farley,  R.  H.  Dick, 
W.  C.  Butler,  H.  B.  Pettigrew,  W.  L.  Clayton,  C.  B. 
Hogans,  Mack  Lynear,  S.  A.  Chambers,  J.  S.  Nichols, 
N.  C.  Collins. 

Deacons,  I.  Billips,  S.  A.  Brown,  J.  C.  Edney,  W. 
Tyler,  E.  J.  Archer,  A.  W.  Lowther,  D.  Thompson, 
W.  A.  Sawyer,  William  Wooton,  J.  W.  Bowe,  C.  W. 
Griffin,  B.  F.  Harrison,  R.  E.  Cousins. 

Preachers,  G.  W.  Brown,  E.  S.  Williams.  ' 

Local  Ministers,  Jacob  Fisher,  J.  J.  Franklin,  R.  T. 
Smith,  B.  Stitt,  Griffin  Irby,  W.  M.  Long,  W.  M.  Fagan, 
C.  Irby. 

Among  the  men  who  have  passed  away  Rev.  A.  Paxton 
stood  the  highest  in  the  estimation  of  his  brethren.  He 
was  a  very  strong  and  at  the  same  time  a  very  meek  man. 
There  were  none  truer  to  his  Church  than  he.  He  was  the 
first  preacher  licensed  to  preach  in  that  part  of  the  State. 
He  was  licensed  less  than  two  months  after  the  war,  at  the 
time  that  the  Church  in  Edenton  was  received  into  the 
connection.  His  ministerial  labors,  which  covered  a 
period  of  about  twenty  years,  were  always  successful. 
He  was  among  the  class  of  preachers  who  could  stay  four 
years  in  a  place  to  the  benefit  of  the  Church.  He  was 
an  upright  man  himself,  but  had  great  compassion  for 
weaker  brethren.  Revs.  James  A.  Jones  and  J.  P.  Hamer, 
of  whom  we  have  spoken  elsewhere,  both  died  while 
laboring  in  this  Conference.     Rev.   G.  W.   Conner  did 


35^  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

good  work  for  a  short  season,  but  died  at  Petersburg 
before  the  close  of  his  first  year.  Rev.  Watkins  Jones 
was  also  among  the  successful  builders  in  this  Conference. 

REV.    JAMES    H.    MANLEY,    D.D., 
Missionary  Secretary. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Manley,  D.D.,  is  one  of  the  few  young 
men  of  the  race  who,  by  virtue  of  his  own  self-reli- 
ance, perseverance,  and  faith  in  God  has  pushed  him- 
self to  the  front,  and  is  to-day  one  of  the  leading 
divines  of  his  connection,  as  well  as  the  Sankey  of  the 
race.  He  is  a  native  of  Elkton,  a  little  city  in  Mary- 
land, and  is  the  only  Doctor  of  Divinity  that  city  ever 
produced.  Four  years  after  he  entered  the  schools 
of  his  home,  so  rapid  was  his  progress  in  learning 
that  he  was  offered  the  teacher's  chair,  which  he  filled 
with  great  satisfaction.  He  was  for  a  number  of  years 
President  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  of 
Elkton. 

Dr.  Manley  is  a  good,  practical  Gospel  preacher  and  an 
excellent  pastor,  and  is  successful  in  winning  his  people 
regardless  of  creed.  He  was  the  Presiding  Elder  of  the 
Virginia  Conference  for  two  '  years,  and  was  afterward 
pastor  of  the  Zion  Church  in  Petersburg,  Va.  He  has 
been  twice  elected  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of 
his  Church,  and  is  now  pastor  of  Logan  Temple  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

George  W.  Cruikshank,  editor  of  the  Cecil  Democrat, 
of  Elkton,  Md.,  who  .knew  him  from  a  boy,  after  hearing 
Rev.  Manley  lecture,  said:  "There  is  neither  money, 
nor  honor,  nor  politics  in  our  well-considered  declaration 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      357 


REV.   J.   H.   MANLEY,   D.D. 


358  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

that  what  Rev.  James  H.  Manley  said  last  Monday  evening- 
amazed  while  it  pleased  us.  We  felt  inclined  to  rub  our 
eyes  and  thrice  wonder  if  it  could  be  that  that  little  ur- 
chin who  used  to  take  orders  for  rare  beefsteak  and  shyly 
laugh  at  our  chagrin  when  it  came  cooked  to  dryness  was 
the  developed  pulpit  orator  who  stood  before  us.  His 
manner  of  speaking  was  up  to  the  most  cultured  rules  of 
modern  eloquence."  R.   Haywood  Stitt. 

REV.    W.    H.    NEWBY. 

W.  H.  Newby  was  born  at  Belvidere,  N.  C,  in  the 
year  1852.  He  was  reared  by  Quakers  and  sent  to  school, 
where  he  acquired  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  but 
still  is  practically  a  self-made  man.  At  an  early  age  he 
took  charge  of  a  free  school  in  Pasquotank  County,  N.  C, 
and  taught  for  several  years.  He  married  at  twenty, 
and  has  a  family  of  three  daughters.  He  entered  the 
ministry  in  1880  at  Bay  Branch,  N.  C,  under  Bishop 
J.  W.  Hood,  presiding  bishop  of  the  Virginia  An- 
nual Conference.  The  first  work  he  did  was  at  Nix- 
onton,  N.  C,  where  he  built  a  very  nice  church  costing 
$1,200.  The  largest  portion  of  this  money  was  donated 
by  white  friends  on  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.  He  made  a 
special  friend  on  this  island  in  the  person  of  Lawyer 
A.  De  Groot,  who  is  still  a  friend  of  the  cause  he 
represents. 

The  second  church  he  built  was  at  Franklin,  Va., 
where  he  started  with  only  three  members,  and  in  less 
than  six  months  he  had  nearly  completed  a  building  cost- 
ing one  thousand  dollars.  At  the  close  of  two  years 
many  had  been  added  to  the  church  and  the  debt  paid 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       359 

off  excepting  about  three  hundred  dollars.  He  was  next 
sent  to  Norfolk,  Va.,  where  his  most  successful  work  was 
done.  From  there  he  went  to  Union  Wesley  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Twenty-third  Street, 


REV.    W.    H.    NEWBY. 

Washington,  D.  C.  Here  he  raised  more  money  in  1893 
than  had  been  raised  in  one  year  since  the  pastorate  of 
Elder  Dyson.     He  is  still  meeting  with  success. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA  CONFERENCE. 
This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton (accompanied  by  Revs.  W.  J.  Moore,  F.    B.  Moore, 
and  Thomas  Henderson,  from  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference), March  24,  1867. 

Horace  Clinton  and  Titus  Hogans  walked  through  the 
25 


360  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

country  from  Lancaster  County,  S.  C,  to  New  Berne, 
N.  C,  to  meet  the  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1866. 
They  were  received  and  ordained  deacons,  and  sent  back 
as  missionaries.  It  was  then  agreed  to  set  off  the  South 
Carolina  Conference.  Of  the  original  members  only 
three  are  now  living  on  this  side  of  the  Jordan  of  death, 
as  follows:  Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton,  Elders  D.  I.  Walker 
and  Barney  Burton. 

This  Conference  has  had  rapid  growth.  There  are 
about  one  hundred  churches,  all  of  which  have  been  built 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  except  the  one  at  Lancaster, 
in  which  the  Conference  was  organized.  The  men  in 
this  Conference  have  the  laudable  ambition  to  keep  this 
Conference  abreast  with  the  foremost  in  the  connection. 
Certainly  no  Conference  has  been  more  loyal  to  our  con- 
nectional  institutions.  The  Book  Concern,  the  Star  of 
Zion,  the  College,  and  the  Sabbath  School  department, 
have  all  received  great  encouragement  from  the  South 
Carolina  Conference.  This  is  the  more  praiseworthy 
when  we  consider  that  the  Lancaster  High  School,  which 
is  only  second  to  Livingstone  College  itself,  is  located  in 
this  Conference.     This  institution  is  doing  a  most  com- 

* 

mendable  work.  Men  raised  up  in  the  South  Carolina 
Conference  are  filling  important  pulpits  in  the  New  Eng- 
land, Allegheny,  and  the  Kentucky  Conferences.  This 
Conference  has  been  recently  divided  and  the  Palmetto 
Conference  set  off.     Below  we  give  the  roll  of  members : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  I.  C.  Clinton,  D.D. 

Conference  Officers,   Rev.  F.   Killingsworth,  Conference 
Steward;    Rev.  T.  P.  R.  Moore,  Secretary  and  Compiler;  . 
Rev.  D.  C.  Baum,  Assistant    and   Recording  Secretary; 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       36 1 

Rev.  W.  M.  Robinson,  Statistical  Secretary ;  Rev.  Y.  J.  P. 
Cohen,  Corresponding-  Editor  to  Star  of  Zion  ;  Professor 
W.  A.  Walker,  A.  B.,  Editor  South  Carolina  Herald; 
Rev.  G.  W.  McDowell,  Reporter  to  Rock  Hill  Herald ; 
Rev.  M.  Ingram,  Reporter  to  Chester  Reporter  ;  Rev.  R. 
I.  Apostle,  Reporter  to  the  State  ;  Professor  W.  R.  Doug- 
las, A.B.,  Reporter  to  the  Ledger  ;  Rev.  J.  H.  Jackson, 
Timist;  Rev.  William  Clark,  Post  Office  Messenger; 
Revs.  N.  A.  Rice  and  A.  C.  Cureton,  Marshals;  Mrs. 
Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton,  Vice  President  of  Women's  Home 
and  Foreign  Missionary  Society. 

Presiding  Elders,  Revs.  D.  I.  Walker,  N.  A.  Crockett, 
T.  P.  R.  Moore. 

Elders,  Revs.  A.  M.  Moore,  M.  Ingram,  J.  H.  Jackson, 
T.J.  Benson,  S.  L.  Jones,  C.  C.  Alexander,  W..M. 
Robinson,  I.  J.  Jackson,  P.  R.  Nichols,  F.  R.  McKoy,  S. 
W.  Burton,  R.  W.  Wilson,  S.  J.  Sterling,  A.  R.    Russel, 

F.  Killingsworth,  J.  A.  Jackson,  Y.  J.  P.  Cohen,  S.  P. 
Gibson,  N.  A.    Rice,  R.  A.  McCreary,  R.    T.  Terry,  L. 

G.  Gregory,  J.  M.  Erwin,  A.  McLeese. 

Deacons,  Revs.  F.  Adams,  C.  Dunlap,  R.  W.  Miller,  J. 

B.  Ellis,  Z.  Belton,  T.  Miller,  T.  P.  Dunlap,  William 
Clark,  J.  R.  Blake,  T.  Cowsar,  A.  C.  Cureton,  Joseph 
Stephens,  B.  Stroud,  R.  Nelson,  William  Hagans,  A.  W. 
Wilson,  York  Harris,  J.  J.  Stradford,  H.  K.  Edwards,  J. 

C.  Choen,  G.  W.  McDowell,  R.  I.  Apostle. 
Superannuated  Ministers,  Revs.  M.    Jones,  William  Ha- 
gans, R.  Stroud. 

Traveling  Preachers,  Revs.  J.  L.  Rainey,  W.  M.  Boul- 
ware,  A.   J.  Jackson. 

Preachers  on    Trial:   Third  year,   York   Harris,   J.    R. 


362  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Blake,  C.  C.  Crawford,  J.  C.  Choen.  Second  year, 
Revs.  William  Jackson,  A.  W.  Wilson,  J.  E.  Robinson, 
D.  C.  Baum,  L.  G:  Gregory,  M.  J.  Edwards,  C.  H. 
Hood,  J.  J.  Stradford,  H.  K.  Edwards.  First  year, 
William  Thompson,  J.  J.  Johnson,  J.  A.  Beckham,  R. 
B.  Smith,  J.  J.  Parks. 

REV.  NERO  ALEXANDER  CROCKETT.* 

N.  A.  Crockett  was  born  two  miles  west  of  Lancaster 
Village,  Lancaster  County,  S.  C,  November  25,  1842. 
He  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  the  first  Sun- 
day in  March,  1859,  under  Rev.  B.  Stevens,  pastor,  at 
the  age  of  sixteen  years;  professed  religion  in  1862. 
Married  at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  He  had  no  educa- 
tional advantages  excepting  the  Blue-back  Speller.  After 
the  "  surrender"  he  was  enabled  to  acquire  a  somewhat 
slight  knowledge  of  Davies's  Arithmetic,  grammar,  and 
geography,  and  Swinton's  Word  Analysis.  He  received  a 
local  preacher's  license  from  Rev.  I.  C.  Clinton,  then 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Lancaster  District,  at  Old  Eben- 
ezer,  Kershaw  County,  S.  C,  in  August,  1868.  In  1869, 
serving  as  a  local  preacher,  he  built  Mount  Zion's 
first  church,  which  stands  now — Mount  Nebo.  In  1871 
he  served  at  North  Corner,  Lancaster  County,  as  a 
"supply"  local  preacher;  built  there  Corner  Stone 
Church.  Joined  the  Annual  Conference  1872,  in  Lan- 
caster Village,  S.  C,  and  was  ordained  deacon.  Sent  as 
"supply"  to  Steel  Hill  Mission  by  Rev.  R.  Wilson,  pre- 
siding elder,  in   1872;   built  Steel  Hill  Church  the  first 

*  Brother  Crockett  has  been  one  of  our  most  successful  men.  This 
sketch,  written  by  himself,  fails  to  do  him  justice. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       363 

year,  and  bought  ground  and  built  Camp  Arbor  in  1874, 
building  the  same  year  White  Oak  Church. 

After  remaining  on  the  above-named  circuits  from 
1872  to  1875,  was  sent  by  Bishop  Hood  to  Mount  Hope, 
on  Camphor  Creek,  and  built  Mount  Carmel  and  Mount 
Moriah  churches.     In   1878-79  served  at  Pineville  Cir- 


REV.    N.    A.    CROCKETT. 


cuit.  In  1 88 1  served  Clinton  Chapel,  Yorkville,  and 
White  Hill,  York  County,  painting  and  ceiling  Clinton 
Chapel,  and  building  the  church  parsonage  there.  In 
1886-88  preached  at  Mount  Zion  Church,  Chester  Sta- 
tion, S.  C,  re-covering  the  church  and  erecting  bell- 
tower.  In  1888-89  preached  at  St.  John's  Church, 
Fairfield  County,  building  within  fifty  feet,  more  or  less, 
of  the  old  church,  a  structure  that  rivals  any  "country" 


364  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

church  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference.  In  1889  he 
was  elected  presiding  elder  in  the  South  Carolina  Confer- 
ence, in  session  at  Chester,  S.  C,  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones, 
presiding;  served  three  years  on  the  Chester  District, 
two  years  on  the  York  District,  and  now  (1894)  serving 
his  third  year  as  Presiding  Elder  of  the  York  District. 
Built  his  last  church  up  to  this  time  at  Blacksburg,  York 
County,  S.  C.  (1893). 

In  all  of  his  church  building  he  took  in  hand  the  entire 
business  relations,  etc.,  connected  therewith,  had  the  im- 
mediate oversight  of  all  the  work,  and  performed  with 
his  own  hands  principally  all  the  manual  labor,  such  as 
carpentry,  masonry,  etc. 

GEORGIA   CONFERENCE. 

Bishop  Clinton  was  never  happier  over  the  organization 
of  a  Conference  than  at  the  formation  of  Georgia  Confer- 
ence. He  had  taken  into  the  connection  that  fine  Trinity 
Church  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  said  at  that  time  to  be  one 
of  the  finest  colored  churches  in  the  South.  In  this 
church  he  had  held  the  Conference,  one  of  the  best  Con- 
ferences, he  thought,  that  he  had  ever  held,  and  the  out- 
look for  Georgia  was  most  promising.  He  thought 
Edwin  West,  who  was  in  charge  of  Trinity,  one  of  the 
grandest  men  he  ever  met.  Notwithstanding  all  of  this 
fine  promise,  this  was  one  of  Bishop  Clinton's  very  few 
failures.  His  man  "Friday  "was  not  with  him.  He 
had  two  men  in  this  Southern  work  who  sustained  that 
relation,  but  unfortunately  neither  of  them  was  with 
him  on  this  occasion.  The  greatest  general  needs  aids 
in  all  great  undertakings.     But  the  bishop's  aids  were  so 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       365 

situated  that  they  could  not  be  with  him,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  go  alone.  He  thought  he  had  made  sure 
work,  but  he  was  mistaken ;  the  man  upon  whom  he  had 
leaned  failed  him.  Edwin  West  "  went  back  on  him." 
Soon  after  the  close  of  the  Conference,  Trinity  Church, 
with  Edwin  West,  its  pastor,  withdrew  from  the  connec- 
tion, and  our  hopes  for  Georgia  were  lost.  Augusta  was 
one  of  the  three  important  points  in  Georgia  at  that 
time.  The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  held  Atlanta, 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  held  Savannah,  but  if 
we  could  have  held  Augusta  we  should  have  been  in  as 
good  fix  as  any  of  them ;  but  we  failed  to  hold  Augusta, 
and  so  lost  Georgia.  Our  work  there  ever  since  that  time 
has  been  up  hill.  All  things  considered,  however,  the 
few  who  were  faithful  to  Zion's  cause  after  the  break 
have  struggled  on  like  heroes,  and  have  maintained  the 
organization,  and  Zion  still  lives  in  Georgia. 

Not  only  this,  but  the  Georgia  Conference  has  become 
a  mother.  The  South  Georgia  has  been  set  off  by  the 
Georgia  Conference,  of  which  we  shall  speak  in  its  turn. 

ALABAMA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  in  State  Street  Church, 
Mobile,  Ala.,  April  3,  1867,  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  D.D., 
presiding,  and  Rev.  W.  Strong,  secretary.  It  has  the 
largest  number  of  ministers  of  any  in  the  connection. 

The  work  in  Alabama  is  next  to  that  in  North  Caro- 
lina in  importance.  In  one  respect  we  had  from  the 
beginning  an  advantage  in  Alabama  which  we  had  not 
in  North  Carolina.  In  the  latter  State  Bethel  got  the 
lead  on  us,  both  at  the  capital  and  at  the  metropolis.      In 


366  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Alabama  we  got  both  capital  and  metropolis.  This 
gives  Zion  an  influence  in  that  State  which  our  efficient 
young  men  are  beginning  to  use  to  great  advantage. 
There  is  no  Conference  in  which  the  prospect  is  brighter 
or  the  possibilities  greater.  Being  further  south,  and 
more  affected  by  the  blighting  influence  of  slavery,  the 
men  who  began  the  work  there  were  not  so  well 
equipped  as  those  who  were  nearer  to  the  northern  bor- 
der ;  but  their  sons  are  beginning  to  exhibit  the  effects  of 
their  better  opportunities. 

There  were  private  schools  for  colored  children  in  New 
Berne,  Wilmington,  Fayetteville,  and  some  other  points 
in  North  Carolina  long  after  they  ceased  to  be  tolerated 
in  any  other  part  of  the  South,  and  the  effect  thereof 
is  seen  upon  North  Carolinians  wherever  dispersed. 
In  Alabama  and  other  more  southern  States  the  flame  of 
intelligence  in  the  mind  of  the  slave  was  more  effectually 
quenched ;  hence  when  emancipation  came  there  were 
fewer  in  that  section  who  had  the  intellectual  capacity 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  The  men  were  there  in 
greater  numbers  than  anywhere  else  in  the  land.  They 
had  the  piety  and  zeal,  but  the  opportunity  for  culture 
had  been  wholly  denied  them.  The  wonder  is  that  they 
have  done  so  well. 

Among  the  men  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in 
the  building  up  of  that  work  we  may  mention  Rev.  W.  G. 
Strong,  who  was  the  first  missionary  sent  to  that  field. 
He  was  especially  selected  by  Bishop  Clinton  for  that  field, 
and  Bishop  Clinton  seldom  made  a  mistake  in  the  selection 
of  his  man.  A  bishop  cannot  always  get  the  man  he 
wants,  and  has  to  take  a  second,  sometimes  a  third  choice. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       367 

In  Strong,  Bishop  Clinton  was  fortunate  in  getting  the 
man  he  wanted  for  that  particular  work.  He  was  ex- 
ceedingly well  equipped — in  fact,  the  best  equipped  of  any 
man  he  had  in  the  South  at  that  time.  He  had  a  good 
education  and  was  a  splendid  preacher.  He  was  affable, 
genial,  and  pleasing  in  his  manners.  No  one  could  know 
him  and  not  love  him.  Among  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  men  whom  Bishop  Clinton  found  on  the  spot 
and  ordained  for  the  work  in  Alabama  we  must  mention 
Revs.  Allen  Hannon,  Solomon  Derry,  Lewis  Oliver,  M. 
G.  Thomas,  Lander  Fannin,  and  Miles  Page,  who  still 
survive.  E.  D.  Taylor,  a  man  of  great  energy,  S.  W. 
Jones,  who  was  well  equipped  for  work,  Samuel  Wilson,  a 
man  of  an  excellent  Christian  spirit,  and  J.  M.  Butler,  the 
great  organizer,  have  all  passed  away. 

Father  Hannon,  though  aged,  is  still  full  of  zeal,  and 
attended  the  last  General  Conference,  as  he  has  every  one 
since  1872. 

H.  Shuford  came  in  a  little  later,  but  ranks  among  the 
older  men  of  the  Conference.  Among  the  rising  young 
men  we  may  mention  Revs.  J.  W.  Alstork,  J.  W.  Cooper, 
T.  A.  Weathington,  Joseph  Gomez,  and  A.  J.  Rodgers. 
We  copy  the  following  from  the  Minutes  of  1 892  : 

compiler's  general  statement. 

This  is  the  twenty-fourth  session  of  the  Alabama  Annual  Confer- 
ence, presided  over  respectively  by  Right  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  M.D., 
1880  to  1882;  Right  Rev.  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  1883  to  1885;  Right  Rev. 
T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D.,  1886  to  1888;  reappointed  from  General  Confer- 
ence, New  Berne,  N.  C,  four  years,  reappointed  in  General  Conference 
at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  1892  to  1896.  The  Alabama  Conference  has  five  Pre- 
siding Elder  Districts.  Presiding  Elders:  Revs.  J.  W.  Alstork,  D.D., 
H.  P.  Shuford,  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D.,  M.  G.  Thomas,  S.  Derry. 


368  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Prominent  Stations. — Clinton  Chapel,  Montgomery,  built  by  Rev. 
Allen  Hannon,  1873  ;  its  present  pastor,  Rev.  A.  J.  Rodgers.  Mount  Zion, 
Montgomery  ;  beautiful  structure,  built  by  Rev.  T.  A.  Weathington,  1889; 
cost  $3,000 ;  built,  dedicated,  March  4  to  August,  first  Sunday  ;  the  entire 
debt  paid  within  nine  months ;  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooper  is  its  present  pastor. 
Zion  Star,  Hilliard  Chapel,  Ebenezer  and  Bibb  Town  Mission,  all  in  the 
city.  Our  church  in  Tuskegee,  Ala,,  is  a  handsome  building,  erected  by 
Rev.  P.  J.  Mcintosh,  and  completed  and  dedicated  by  Rev.  A.J.  Rodgers  ; 
pastor,  Rev.  J.  T.  McMillan.  At  Talladega,  Ala.,  we  have  a  fine  church 
in  course  of  erection  by  Rev.  Joseph  Gomez.  Anniston  Church  is  destined 
to  be  one  of  our  best.  Greenville  Station  is  a  spacious  and  beautiful 
church ;  it  has  been  well  pastored  ;  it  is  a  charge  much  to  be  desired. 
Wetumpka  Church  was  built  by  Rev.  A.  J.  Rodgers,  and  bears  his  name ; 
Rev.  R.  Taylor,  pastor.  Hayneville  Station  can  hardly  be  surpassed  ;  it 
is  grand  in  appearance ;  Rev.  J.  H.  Hale  is  pastor.  Thompson  Chapel, 
Opelika,  is  a  good  station,  having  been  pastored  by  some  of  our  ablest 
ministers  ;  built  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Cooper,  1880.  Ebenezer  Church,  in  West 
Montgomery,  was  built  by  Rev.  H.  Salley,  1883.  Stone  Chapel  ranks 
among  the  finest  of  our  country  churches,  attracting  the  attention  of  all 
passers-by  ;  built  by  Rev.  A.  S.  Watkins,  1883. 

There  are  ninety-six  appointments  in  the  Conference.  The  Conference 
has  been  held  since  1879  in  the  following  cities  and  towns:  1880,  Tuskegee; 
1 88 1,  Greenville  ;  1882,  Montgomery  ;  1883,  Talladega  ;  1884,  Montgomery; 
1885,  Opelika;  1886,  Union  Springs ;  1887,  Montgomery;  1888,  Green- 
ville; 1889,  Montgomery ;  1890,  Opelika;  1 891,  Talladega;  1892,  Montgom- 
ery; 1893,  to  meet  at  Anniston. 

General  officers  connected  with  the  Conference  (3) :  Rev.  J.  W.  Alstork, 
D.D.,  General  Steward ;  Rev.  R.  R.  Morris,  General  Superintendent  Sun- 
day School  Department  ;  Rev.  T.  A.  Weathington,  Financial  Secretary 
Sunday  School  Department. 

We  give  below  a  list  of  the  officers  and  members  of 
the  Alabama  Annual  Conference,  Twenty-fourth  ses- 
sion, 1 891  and  1892  : 

Presiding  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D. 

Secretary,  Joseph  Gomez. 

Assistant  Secretary  and  Compiler,  T.  A.  Weathington. 

Statistician,  J.  J.  Taylor. 

Post  Office  Messenger,  A.  L.  Trimble. 

Marshals,  M.  Mahorn,  H.  Talley. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       369 

Conference  Steward,  J.  W.  Cooper. 

Presiding  Elders,  J.  W.  Alstork,  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D., 
H.  P.  Shuford,  M.  G.  Thomas,  S.  Derry. 

Traveling  Elders,  T.  A.  Weathington,  Dr.  R.  R.  Mor- 
ris, A.  S.  Watkins,  Joseph  Gomez,  A.  J.  Rodgers,  T.  L. 
Holt,  William  Curry,  Alexander  Stokes,  Jeremiah  R. 
Gill,  Allen  Hannon,  William  Worthy,  L.  S.  Peterson,  A. 
Gregory,  William  Eastley,  William  Brown,  L.  A.  Oliver, 
Matthew  Jackson,  T.  R.  Rodgers,  C.  L.  W.  Hamilton, 
Samuel  Allen,  George  W.  Drake,  L.  Fannin,  C.  C.  Alli- 
son, J.  H.  Hale,  Robert  Taylor,  C.  McClain,  Benjamin 
Freeman,  H.  Talley,  William  Finley,  Thomas  Crenshaw, 
M.  Rankins,  C.  Jerman,  Silas  Lipscomb,  C.  Hubbert,  A. 
L.  Green,  A.  L.  Trimble,  S.  J.  Odom  (suspended),  M. 
Mahorn,  Tobias  Matthew,  J.  Wingfield,  T.  L.  Jackson, 
J.  R.  Rustin,  L.  Lewis,  William  Jacobs,  C.  T.  Green, 
R.  L.  Boyd,  D.  C.  Calhoun,  McDufley  Sharp,  W.  S. 
Medows,  C.  C.  Crawford,  J.  J.  Taylor,  L.  D.  Workman, 
P.  S.  Samuels. 

Supernumerary  Deacons,  T.  M.  Moore,  W.  H.  Har- 
mon, G.  M.  Barry,  M.  D.  Alexander,  Silas  Smith,  Reg- 
don  Harris,  H.  C.  White,  C.  L.  Johnson,  F.  P.  Martin, 
R.  Kemp,  J.  T.  Scales,  Alford  Mobley,  A.  White,  Moses 
Pitts. 

Superannuated  Deacon,  Abram  McGee. 

Supernumerary  Elders,  Revs.  Robert  Clopton,  Samuel 
Hill,  A.  Davis  (blind),  Nelson  McGee,  J.  Hensler,  Cor- 
nelius Doan,  Lewis  Jackson,  W.  Simpson,  H.  Heard,  G. 
Sexton,  S.  Williams,  Nelson  Bibb,  H.  C.  Sampy. 

Superannuated  Elders,  Revs.  Henry  Lawhorn,  R.Wilcox. 

Travelifig  Deacons,  Revs.   J.   C.   Harris,   J.  G.   Gulley, 


370  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Albert  Mahoney,  S.  Gains,  N.  R.  Richmond,  A.  Waters 
N.    H.  Brown,  M.  Rollins,   F.  L.  Bell,   C.  F.  Brown,  J 
W.  Armstrong,  S.  Green,  Wilson  Everet,  G.  W.  Davidson 
A.  Chapel,  E.  Sneed,  C.  L.  Alexander,  Noah  Bowen,  J 
Goode,  S.  McClain,  D.  Davis,   J.   Barnett,   G.  G.  Green 
J.   W.  Booker,  P.  W.  Laremore,   J.  H.  Hubbard,  David 
Wright,   Robert  Jacobs,    R.   C.   Shepard,   Thomas    Bar- 
nett, T.   H.   Mitchell,  S.  Carter,   Thomas  Jones,   D.   D. 
Green,  J.  C.   Hill,  J.  H.   Lee,  James  Chamblis,  C.  W. 
Motley,   G.  W.  Lee,  D.  Hubbard,  J.  W.  Smith. 

Preachers  in  Full  Connection,  Revs.  A.  Bowen,  B.  Dorsey, 
Dennis  Gulley,  Henry  Tillis,  William  Duncan,  Prince 
Johnson,  Sidney  Saunders,  Robert  Jacobs,  J.  Starkley, 
William  Scott. 

Preachers  on  Fourth  Year,  Revs.  W.  A.  Lewis,  William 
Dickinson,  M.  D.  Davidson,  James  Ardis,  N.  G.  George, 
W.  N.  Lewis,  C.  F.  Brown,  W.  B.  J.  Lee,  B.  H.  Bowles. 

Preachers  on  Second  Year,  Revs.  J.  B.  McLain,  A.  W. 
Williams,  O.  P.  O'Neil,  C.  E.  Baker,  J.  T.  McMillen, 
D.  C.  Davenport,  R.  B.  Jones,  W.  L.  Jones,  Aaron  Kit- 
chen, Peter  Earley,  William  Talbott,  Frank  Ward,  J.  W. 
Cooper. 

Preachers  on  First  Year,  Revs.  Nathan  Durits,  F.  H. 
Hubbert,  A.  Z.  Brown,  S.  P.  Wood,  William  Meadows, 
Henry  Johnson,  William  Perry,  W.  J.  Gresham,  I.  S. 
Smith,  Henry  McGee,  James  Jones,  James  Hawkins,  E. 
M.  Brooks,   L.  A.  Bell. 

REV.   SOLOMON  DERRY. 

Solomon  Derry  was  born  in  North  Carolina  of  slave 
parents.     He  cannot  tell  his  age  nor  the  county  where 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      37 1 

he  was  born ;  lie  was  brought  to  Alabama  when  but  a 
babe  in  his  mother's  arms,  and  has  never  seen  his  father. 
His  mother's  name  was  Margaret  Huggins.  When 
about  seven  years  of  age  his  mother  had  him  taught  the 
alphabet  while  she  would  watch ;  for  it  was  almost  death 
to  any  person  found  teaching  a  Negro  to  read  and  write, 
and  equally  as  dangerous  to  the  Negro  who  tried  to  learn. 


REV.    SOLOMON    DERRY. 


However,  his  instructor  succeeded  in  carrying  his  stu- 
dent as  far  as  "  she  fed  the  old  hen,"  etc.  Here  Solomon 
was  left  to  continue  his  studies  or  not,  as  he  saw  fit. 
His  good  and  thoughtful  mother  had  him  study  alone, 
then  spell  and  read  to  her  each  night.  But  soon  he  was 
hired  out  and  his  progress  was  somewhat  retarded ;  hav- 
ing a  strong  desire  to  improve,  however,  he  continued  his 


372  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

studies,  and  soon  learned  to  read  and  write.  He  gives 
his  faithful  mother  all  the  credit  for  his  early  success  in 
life.  He  gave  his  heart  to  God  when  but  a  boy  and 
joined  the  grand  old  Methodist  Church ;  he  has  spent 
about  forty-two  years  in  the  service  of  God.  He  was  for 
a  long  time  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school  of  the 
Old  Ship,  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  and  was  also  a  member  of  this 
church.  He  was  licensed  to  exhort  in  1861  by  Rev.  F. 
G.  Ferguson,  presiding  elder,  and  licensed  to  preach 
June,  1865,  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  On  November  19, 
1865,  he  joined  the  Louisiana  Annual  Conference  and  was 
ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  He  was  one 
of  the  first  colored  teachers  of  the  day  school  in  Mont- 
gomery, Ala.,  taught  in  the  Old  Ship  Church. 

In  1867  he  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton, 
and  appointed  to  Union  Springs,  Ala.,  where  he  planted 
Zion4  and  organized  the  following  churches:  Derry's 
Chapel,  at  Union  Springs,  Ala. ;  St.  Paul,  at  Magnolia ; 
Lee's  Chapel,  at  Aberfoil ;  Zion  Church,  at  Thompson's ; 
Mallard's  Chapel,  at  Pea  River;  Bascom's  Cornerstone, 
at  Bascom's  Mill;  Moore's  Chapel,  at  Raimer's;  Ross 
Chapel,  at  Hurtsboro ;  Henderson's  Chapel,  and  Little 
Zion,  at  Orion ;  Anderson's  Chapel,  at  Euchee ;  Zion 
Church,  at  Perote ;  Zion  Church,  at  Columbus,  Ga.  He 
taught  school  in  Derry's  Chapel  for  a  considerable  time 
with  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.  At  this  place  he  went 
through  untold  suffering  for  God  and  Zion.  The  Ku- 
kluxes  were  ranging  that  section,  whipping,  shooting, 
hanging,  and  burning  churches  and  schoolhouses.  He 
was  visited  by  them  and  ordered  to  leave  the  place,  but 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       373 

he  refused  to  obey  men,  choosing  rather  to  obey  God  by 
holding  his  ground ;  remained  six  years,  and  was  the 
means  of  sending  out  seventy-five  local  and  traveling 
preachers  and  brought  in  six  hundred  and  twenty-five 
members — a  total  of  seven  hundred. 

In  1873  Brother  Derry  was  appointed  to  Tuskegee, 
Ala.  He  held  this  charge  four  years,  repaired  the  church 
at  a  cost  of  $240,  built  a  schoolhouse  out  of  his  own 
pocket  and  gave  it  to  the  church.  The  normal  school 
at  Tuskegee  began  in  that  schoolhouse. 

He  taught  school  at  this  place  for  four  years,  with  an 
enrollment  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  scholars.  He  also 
established  camp  meetings,  made  arrangements  with  Mr. 
Ogletree  for  ten  acres  of  ground,  and  built  a  shed  40  x  75 
feet  on  the  same  for  camp  meeting  purposes.  Thou- 
sands of  people  still  gather  there  annually  in  camp  meet- 
ing, and  scores  of  souls  have  been  happily  converted  on 
that  ground.  He  planted  Zion  at  Camp  Hill  and  Opelika, 
Ala.,  and  rebuilt  the  church  at  Tallassee. 

He  was  appointed  to  Butler's  Chapel,  Greenville,  Ala., 
by  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson ;  here  he  greatly  revived  the 
church,  taking  in  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  souls  the 
first  year ;  he  was  also  preparing  to  build  a  new  church, 
but,  being  hindered,  he  launched  out  into  the  country 
and  built  two  churches,  one  at  Bragg's  Hill  and  one  at 
Snow  Hill.  Those  that  opposed  him  at  Greenville  did  all 
in  their  power  to  keep  him  from  succeeding,  but  in  spite 
of  them  he  filled  the  place  with  music,  the  result  of 
which  is  seen  to  this  day. 

The  next  year  Bishop  Thompson  gave  him  a  mission 
field,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  he  reported  two  churches 


374  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

that  he  had  built.  The  following  year  he  was  left  with- 
out an  appointment ;  he  returned  to  Union  Springs  and 
taught  school;  from  there  he  went  to  Midway,  Ala.,  and 
taught  a  government  school,  then  returned  to  Union 
Springs.  Bishop  Hood  came  to  the  district  as  presiding 
bishop,  and  found  Rev.  Derry  teaching  school  in  Derry's 
Chapel  (African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church).  The 
bishop  told  him  to  meet  the  Conference  at  Talladega, 
Ala.,  which  he  did,  and  was  appointed  pastor  in-  charge  at 
Talladega  (the  Athens  of  the  South,  educationally  speak- 
ing), Wesley's  Chapel,  and  Anniston.  He  found  the 
church  at  Talladega  without  a  deed,  but  he  secured  one 
and  had  it  properly  recorded.  He  was  next  appointed 
presiding  elder  over  the  Evergreen  District  of  the  East 
Alabama  Conference,  to  succeed  Rev.  W.  G.  Strong, 
presiding  elder,  who  was  transferred  to  the  Florida 
Conference.  He  is  one  of  the  best  organizers  in  the 
connection.  He  is  a  champion  Sunday  school  worker  and 
sound  in  the  faith  of  the  Methodist  Church.  He  is  a 
disciplinarian.  Five  times  he  has  been  a  member  of  the 
General  Conference:  at  Charlotte,  N.  C,  1872;  Louis- 
ville, Ky.,  1876;  New  York,  1884;  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
1888;  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  1892.  He  assisted  in  organizing  the 
following  Conferences :  Alabama,  Florida,  and  Georgia. 
He  claims  to  have  built  twenty  churches,  and  to  have 
baptized  two  thousand  adults,  and  five  hundred  children. 

REV.  JOHN  WESLEY  ALSTORK,  B.D., 
General  Steward. 
John  Wesley  Alstork  was    born    in    Talladega,   Ala., 
September  1,  1852.     He  attended  school  part  of  the  year 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       375 

1867.  In  1 863  he  entered  the  Longwood  Institute. 
Here  he  made  such  rapid  advancement  that  he  was  soon 
given  the  position  of  assistant  teacher.  In  1871  he  en- 
tered Talladega  College.  He  joined  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  1873.  He  married  a  most 
amiable  and  intelligent  young  lady,  with  whom  he  has 


REV.    J.    W.    ALSTORK,    B.D. 

liv.ed  happily  through  the  years  since  past.  He  was 
licensed  to  preach  in  1878,  and  joined  the  Alabama  Con- 
ference in  1879;  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  1882  and 
elder  in  1884.  He  built  a  church*  in  North  Alabama 
during  his  first  year. 

In    1882    he    was   appointed    to    the    Opelika    Station. 

26 


376  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS.  OF   THE 

During  the  two  years  he  held  this  charge  he  added  one 
hundred  and  thirty-seven  to  the  membership,  quite  one 
hundred  per  cent  increase.  In  1884  he  was  appointed 
to  Clinton  Chapel,  Montgomery,  known  as  the  Old  Ship. 
It  was  thought  by  many  to  be  a  mistake  on  the  part  of 
the  bishop  to  ordain  ' '  that  boy  "  and  put  him  in  charge  of 
the  biggest  church  in  the  Conference.  Some  had  the  im- 
pression that  none  but  a  distinguished  elder,  transferred 
from  some  other  Conference,  could  follow  Rev.  C.  C. 
Pettey  in  that  charge.  But  the  bishop  thought  he  knew  his 
man,  and  he  wanted  to  teach  that  church  that  it  could 
be  supplied  from  the  Alabama  Conference.  Moreover,  the 
bishop  had  discovered  that  Alstork  had  the  courage  to 
teach  the  people  that  they  were  as  much  obliged  to  pay 
their  connectional  dues  as  they  were  to  pay  their  local, 
and  he  determined  to  have  a  better  showing  from  that 
church.  It  is,  to  a  very  large  extent,  the  big  elders 
who  come  short  in  connectional  collections.  They  are  so 
anxious  to  have  the  name  of  getting  big  salaries  for 
themselves  that  they  wink  at  the  shortcomings  of  the 
church  on  connectional  claims.  The  bishop  believed, 
from  what  he  had  seen  of  Alstork,  that  he  would  look 
out  for  the  connectional  interests,  and  he  was  not  dis- 
appointed. Alstork  remained  four  years  in  the  charge, 
and  the  amount  of  the  general  fund  increased  each  year. 
His  local  work  was  also  equal  to  that  of  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors. He  raised  fourteen  thousand  dollars  in  the  four 
years  without  resorting  to  entertainments.  He  paid  off 
a  heavy  debt,  and  bought  a  parsonage  worth  three  thou- 
sand dollars.  He  was  made  Conference  Steward  in  1883, 
and.  continued  to  hold  that  position  until  he  was  elected 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       377 

General  Steward.  He  was  elected  presiding  elder  in 
1889,  and  still  holds  that  position.  He  has  held  many 
prominent  positions  in  literary  and  social  institutions- 
He  was  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  in  1884, 
1888,  and  1892. 

A  short  time  before  the  last  General  Conference  the 
writer  intimated  that  Alstork  stood  fair  for  the  bishopric 
Some  thought  it  a  very  wild  intimation,  but  it  was  dis- 
covered before  the  election  came  on  that  he  developed 
amazing  strength.  In  fact,  at  one  time  during  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  it  was  doubtful  whether  it  would  be 
Clinton  and  Walters,  Clinton  and  Alstork,  or  Walters  and 
Alstork.  A  combination  between  the  Clinton  and  Wal- 
ters men,  and  the  agreement  that  Clinton's  name  should 
head  the  ticket,  secured  their  election.  Even  then  Al- 
stork was  a  close  third  man  in  the  race,  closer  to  Walters 
than  Walters  was  to  Clinton.  No  man  in  the  connection 
has  risen  faster  than  Alstork,  and  his  race  has  been  safe 
and  sure  as  well  as  rapid. 

REV.  TITUS  ATTICUS  WEATHINGTON. 

Titus  A.  Weathington  was  born  November  25,  1854, 
at  Tallahassee,  Fla.,  and  is  the  twenty-second  child  and 
the  twelfth  son  of  Rev.  George  and  Matilda  Weathing- 
ton, slaves  of  Bryant  Crooms.  Was  converted  February 
22,  1876.  Received  in  church  February  28,  1876,  Clinton 
Chapel  (Old  Ship),  Rev.  A.  Hannon,  pastor.  Granted 
local  preacher's  license  June  10,  1877.  Joined  the  Ala- 
bama Conference  December  12,  at  Selma,  Ala.  First 
appointment,  Hilliard  Chapel,  Montgomery,  Ala.  Second 
appointment,   Monroe,   Walton   County,  Ga.     Third  ap- 


378 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS -OF   THE 


pointment,  Barkeville,  Ala.  ;  here  his  usefulness  began 
as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel.  In  the  Conference  of  1879 
he  was  ordained  deacon  at  Big  Zion  Church,  Mobile,  Ala., 
by  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson,  M.D.,  D.D.,  and  elder  by  the 
same   in    1882    at   Clinton    Chapel,    Montgomery,    Ala. 


REV.    T.    A.    WEATHINGTON. 

Fourth  appointment,  Hayneville  Circuit,  Hayneville, 
Ala.  Fifth  appointment,  Evergreen  Station ;  two  years 
under  Bishop  Thompson  and  two  years  under  Bishop  J. 
W.  Hood.  Sixth  appointment,  Mount  Zion  Station,  un- 
der Bishop  T.  H.  Lorriax,  D.D.,  five  years,  1886-91; 
here  a  magnificent  church  and  parsonage  were  built  to 
the  glory  of  God,  the  honor  of  Zion,  and  the  credit  of 


'  AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       379 

the  race,  at  a  cost  of  $4,000,  dedicated  and  paid  for 
within  nine  months.  Seventh  appointment,  Zion  Star, 
Montgomery,  Ala.  ;  he  found  this  church  $506.29  in 
debt;  before  the  sitting-  of  the  Conference  of  1893  this 
debt  was  liquidated  to  $20.  He  served  the  East  Alabama 
Conference  consecutively  for  thirteen  years  as  its  record- 
ing .secretary.  He  was  elected  in  1888  financial  secretary 
of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Sunday  School 
Department.  Reelected  1 892 .  Was  delegate  to  the  second 
Ecumenical  Conference,  held  in  1891  at  "Washington, 
D.  C.  He  was  a  candidate  in  1888  at  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
for  general  secretaryship,  and  received  fifty-four  votes 
against  Rev.  William  Howard  Day,  D.D.  Has  been  a 
member  of  three  General  Conferences,  in  two  of  which 
he  served  as  teller  in  the  election  of  bishops  and  general 
officers.  In  the  East  Alabama  Conference  at  Anniston, 
1893,  he  was  unanimously  elected  presiding  elder,  and 
appointed  to  the  Montgomery  District.  He  was  married 
in  1877  to  Miss  Mamie  Drayton,  daughter  of  Cyrus  and 
Lavenia  Drayton.  They  have  three  children,  two  boys 
and  one  girl.  He  is  president  of  the  Mechanicville  Liter- 
ary Society,  established  by  himself  in  i'< 


CALIFORNIA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton, on  Wednesday,  June  10,  1868.  The  following 
preachers  were  present  :  J.  J.  Moore,  Adam  Smith, 
J.  B.  Handy,  W.  B.  Smith,  J.  B.  Wilkenson,  James  C, 
Lodge,  A.  T.  Rodgers,  R.  T.  Hudson,  and  R.  Bradford. 
There  were  three  churches  represented  and  one  hundred 
and  eighty  members.     For  many  years  this  Conference 


380  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

languished,  owing  to  the  mismanagement  and  miscon- 
duct of  William  H.  Hilliary,  who  was  by  far  the  ablest 
man  on  the  coast,  and  if  he  had  made  the  best  use  of 
natural  abilities  he  could  have  planted  the  Church 
wherever  there  were  enough  of  the  race  for  the  purpose. 
But  he  failed,  and  when  the  work  was  visited  by  Bishop 
Lomax,  in  1881,  there  were  only  the  original  number  of 
three  churches.  When  Rev.  A.  Walters  was  sent  to  that 
work  he  succeeded  in  strengthening  the  things  which 
remained,  which  were  ready  to  die ;  and  from  that  time 
there  has  been  continual  growth.  Rev.  C.  C.  Pettey  fol- 
lowed with  a  considerable  emigration  from  the  East,  and 
succeeded  in  planting  several  new  churches,  so  that  there 
are  now  sixteen  traveling  preachers  and  six  hundred  and 
fifty-five  members.  So  hopeful  is  the  work  that  the 
Oregon,  a  new  Conference,  has  been  set  off. 

FLORIDA   CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton in  Pensacola,  April  22,  1869.  There  were  thirteen 
preachers  present  and  three  hundred  and  forty-eight 
members  reported.  The  growth  of  this  Conference  was 
slow.  In  1882  only  one  thousand  and  thirty-seven  mem- 
bers were  reported.  In  1888  Bishop  Lomax  was  assigned 
to  that  work,  and  since  that  time  the  growth  has  been 
much  more  satisfactory.  The  South  Florida,  a  new  Con- 
ference, has  been  formed,  and  the  increase  on  every  line 
has  been  more  than  one  hundred  per  cent. 

The  old  Conference  is  now  known  as  the  West  Florida. 
The  following  is  the  present  Conference  roll : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       38 1 

Presiding  Elder,  Rev.  S.  L.  McDonnell. 

Elders,  Revs.  T.  H.  Darley,  H..  Taylor,  M.  Stokes,  S. 
W.  Jackson,  A.  Robinson,  I.  L.  Ferby,  Simon  Brown, 
J.  M.  Sims,  W.  H.  Smith,  B.  F.  Stevens,  Wilson  Perry, 
H.  E.  Jones.  , 

Deacons,  Revs.  Joshna  Edwards,  Jacob  Simons,  J.  D. 
Peterson,  E.  W.  Morand,  William  Ardis. 

Licentiates,  Revs.  W.  A.  Neal,  J.  L.  Cook,  H.  Graves, 
B.  F.  Mitchell,  G.  G.  Hornsby,  S.  Allen,  G.  Powell,  M. 
Godfree,  S.  L.  Agger. 

Superannuated,  Rev.  Harrison  Williams. 

Supernumerary,  Joseph  Linnix. 

Lay  Delegates,  E.  P.  West,  Adam  Reese. 

Conference  Missionary,  Sister  M.  V.  Anderson. 

WEST   TENNESSEE    AND    MISSISSIPPI    CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton not  later  than  1871,  possibly  a  little  earlier.*  It  was 
represented  in  the  General  Conference  at  Charlotte,  N.  C. 
in  1872,  by  William  Merphy,  Grandison  Simms,  and 
Alexander  Coleman.  This  Conference  was  the  culmina- 
tion of  two  great  efforts,  the  one,  starting  in  New  Berne, 
N.  C,  in  1864,  and  pushing  out  through  East  and  West 
Tennessee  into  Mississippi,  and  the  other,  starting  up 
from  Louisiana  and  Alabama  a  little  later,  met  and 
formed  the  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Conference. 

The  leading  factor  from  the  southern  side  was  Rev. 
William  Merphy,  a  man  of  wonderful  energy.  It  is  the 
impression  with  many  that  he  traveled  and  preached  him- 
self to  death.  But  he  did  a  great  work  while  he  was  at  it. 
*  Have  not  been  able  to  find  a  record. 


382  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Another  great  worker  in  this  Conference  was  Rev.  L. 
J.  Scurlock.  He  took  up  the  work  where  Merphy  laid 
it  down,  and  was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  Conference  for 
more  than  fifteen  years. 

Rev.  Alexander  Coleman  has  also  been  one  of  the 
pillars  of  this  Conference  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
It  has  had  gradual  growth,  but  the  unsettled  state  of 
things  in  that  part  of  the  country  and  the  denial  of  civil 
and  political  rights  to  our  people  in  that  section  have 
been  a  great  hindrance  to  the  growth  of  the  Conference. 
It  has  recently  been  divided  and  the  South  Mississippi 
Conference  formed.  The  roll  of  the  West  Tennessee 
and  Mississippi  Conference  is  as  follows : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  A.  Walters,  D.D. 

Ministers,  Revs.  J.  P.  Meacham,  H.  H.  Bingham,  D. 
Pitts,  L.  R.  Brown,  N.  L.  Lockey,  W.  C.  Lewis,  J.  H. 
Miller,  R.  G.  Gates,  C.  R.  Anthony,  B.  E.  Babannon, 
M.  F.  A.  Easton,  W.  L.  Carr,  G.  W.  Rumage,  J.  W. 
Ruff,  M.  W.  Waters,  A.  P.  Pettey,  G.  W.  Simms,  A. 
M.  White,  E.  D.  Little,  W.  B.  Bain,  J.  E.  Jones,  W.  S. 
Cooper. 

REV.    DANIEL    JAMES    ADAMS. 

This  energetic  Presiding  Elder  of  the  South  Mississippi 
Conference  was  born  in  1861.  He  was  licensed  to  exhort 
in  1879,  was  granted  local  preacher's  license  a  year  later, 
and  joined  the  Annual  Conference  in  1881.  He  was  or- 
dained a  deacon  by  Bishop  Jones  the  same  year.  His 
first  appointment  was  Salem,  Ala.  By  his  labors  55  were 
added  to  the  church  the  first  year,  75  the  second,  125  the 
third.  There  was  also  a  large  increase  in  general  fund, 
$60  the  first  year  and  $135  the  second  year.     This,  in  a 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH. 


183 


Conference  which  only  raised  about  $400  all  told,  was  a 
large  amount  for  one  man.  He  was  ordained  elder  in 
1883  and  appointed  to  the  Eureka  Circuit;  64  members 
were  added  to  the  church,  and  $75  raised  on  general  fund, 
which  was  more  than  had  ever  been  raised  on  that  circuit. 


REV.    D.   J.    ADAMS. 

In  1884  he  was  sent  back  to  Salem,  and  80  members  were 
added  to  the  church.  In  1885  he  was  sent  to  Pope's  Cir- 
cuit. He  remained  on  this  circuit  three  years,  and  im- 
proved it  every  year.  Fifty-two  members  were  added 
the  first  year,  and  $64  raised  on  general  fund.  The 
second  year  99  members  were  added  and  $140  raised  on 
general  fund.       He  also  ceiled  the  church  at  Pope's  Sta- 


384  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

tion.  The  third  year  127  were  added  to  the  church, 
and  the  general  fund  increased  to  $162.25.  He  built  the 
Wesley  Chapel,  and  ceiled  the  church  at  Courtland,  Miss. 

In  1888  he  was  appointed  to  Batesville,  Miss.  During 
this  year  91  members  were  added  to  the  church  and  $156 
raised  on  general  fund.  He  also  seated  the  church  at 
Batesville. 

In  1889  he  was  nominated  for  presiding  elder  by 
Bishop  Harris,  was  elected  by  the  Conference,  and  ap- 
pointed to  Batesville  District. 

In  1890  he  was  appointed  to  the  Canton  District,  where 
he  was  so  successful  that  a  new  Conference  was  composed 
of  that  District,  of  which  he  is  still  the  Presiding  Elder. 

Brother  Adams's  opportunities  for  mental  culture  have 
been  very  poor,  but  he  has  made  good  use  of  what  oppor- 
tunities  he  has  had  and  is  fairly  well  equipped.  A  good 
Christian  character  and  untiring  energy  have  made  him 
a  success.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
in  Pittsburg  in  1892,  from  the  young  Conference 
formed  by  his  effort.  He  made  a  good  impression  in 
that  body.  He  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  the  twentieth 
year  of  his  age,  an  elder  at  twenty-two,  and  was  made 
presiding  elder  at  twenty-eight.  Should  he  be  blessed 
with  long  life  the  future  historian  will  be  likely  to  have 
something  to  say  of  him. 

NEW  JERSEY  CONFERENCE. 
The  following  historical  sketch  of  the  New  Jersey  Con- 
ference, from  1874  to  1893,  is  by  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler: 

In  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Seventh  Street,  Troy, 
N.  Y.,  Wednesday  evening,  May  20,  1874,  as  the  New  York  Conference 
was  beginning  its  forty-second  annual  session,  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  the  pre- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       385 

siding  bishop  of  the  Conference,  in  his  annual  address  to  the  Conference, 
among  other  important  things  said  :  "  It  must  be  apparent  to  the  members 
of  the  Conference  that  the  New  York  Conference  is  too  large,  and  conse- 
quently ought  to  be  divided.  I  would  therefore  recommend  that  the  Con- 
ference at  its  present  session  appoint  a  committee  on  boundaries,  whose 
business  it  shall  be  to  set  off  the  new  district,  to  be  called  the  New  Jersey 
Conference."  * 

In  accordance  with  this  recommendation  a  special  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  consider  the  matter,  and  that  committee  subsequently  reported 
in  favor  of  setting  off  the  new  Conference,  "  the  division  line  to  run  be- 
tween Long  Island  and  Staten  Island,  and  embracing  the  whole  of  New 
Jersey."  The  date  for  the  organization  of  the  new  Conference  was  also 
fixed  by  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  New  Jersey  Conference  be  organized  at  Red  Bank, 
N.  J.,  on  Thursday,  July  2,  1874.! 

First  Session. — In  accordance  with  the  above  resolution  the  New 
Jersey  Conference  met  in  its  first  annual  session  in  Red  Bank,  N.  J.,  on 
Thursday,  July  2,  1874,  at  4:30  P.  M.,  with  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  in  the  chair. 
Deacon  J.  A.  Wright  was  elected  secretary.  Although  the  new  Confer- 
ence embraced  the  whole  of  New  Jersey  and  Staten  Island,  it  has  always 
been  styled  by  the  ministers  composing  it  "the  baby  Conference."  The 
following  are  the  charter  members  of  the  Conference : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  J.  J.  Clinton,  D.D. 

Elders,  Revs.  Charles  W.  Robinson,  Cyrus  Oliver,  L.  B.  Henry,  Clinton 
Leonard,  John  A.  Roberts,  Samuel  J.  Berry,  William  H.  Purnell,  John  A. 
Evans. 

Deacons,  T.  W.  Johnson,  J.  A.  Wright. 

Preachers,  Anthony  Jackson,  John  Smith,  Henry  Cook. 

Missio7iary  Agent,  M.  G.  Laning. 

There  were  three  visiting  brethren  in  attendance  at  this  Conference, 
namely,  Rev.  H.  M.  Wilson,  D.D.,  Rev.  William  H.  Dumpson,  and  deacon 
J.  P.  Thompson,  all  from  the  New  York  Conference.  There  were  also  two 
fraternal  delegates  from  the  New  York  Conference  to  this  Conference,  in 
the  persons  of  Rev.  Jacob  Thomas,  in  charge  of  "  Mother  Zion,"  New 
York  city,  and  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  M.D.,  in  charge  of  the  Zion  Church 
at  Troy,  N.  Y.,  afterward  elected  a  bishop.  Space  will  not  allow  a  great 
deal  to  be  said  of  these  charter  members.  They  were  all,  as  a  rule,  grand 
and  earnest  men,  and  while  we  may  not  have  space  to  praise  them  as  they 
deserve  they  will  each,  no  doubt,  be  surprised  when  they  reach  heaven  to 
find  how  much  the  recording  angel  has  set  to  their  credit  for  their  godly 
and  zealous  efforts  in  establishing  this  little  Conference. 

*  See  New  York  Conference  Minutes  for  1874. 

+  See  also  Conference  Minutes  of  New  York  Conference  for  1874. 


386  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  D.D.,  is  affectionately  remembered  as  the  founder 
of  the  Conference.  He  was  one  of  the  grandest  men  our  Church  has  pro- 
duced. * 

All  the  elders  composing  this  Conference  have  since  gone  to  their  final 
reward  with  two  exceptions,  namely,  "  Father  "  Clinton  Leonard  and  Rev. 
J.  A.  Roberts.  "  Father  "  Leonard  is  in  New  York  at  this  writing  (1894), 
loved  and  revered  by  all  who  know  him.  Rev.  J.  A.  Roberts  five  years  ago 
(1889)  left  the  Church  and  joined  a  sister  Church.  Of  those  who  have  died 
Rev.  Cyrus  Oliver  and  Rev.  S.  J.  Berry  were  especially  noted  for  their 
great  work  as  revivalists.  Rev.  Oliver  did  most  of  his  work  in  the  New 
Jersey  Conference  at  the  Jersey  City  church,  which  society  he  served  two 
different  terms  with  great  success,  from  1871  to  1874,  and  from  1876  to 
1878.  He  finally  died  in  Jersey  City  in  poverty.  Rev.  S.  J.  Berry,  after 
preaching  with  good  success  for  many  years,  finally  died  in  Rahway,  1890,  in 
most  straitened  circumstances.  Rev.  C.  W.  Robinson,  Rev.  L.  B.  Henry, 
Rev.  William  H.  Purnell,  and  Rev.  J.  A.  Evans  were  grand  men,  and  died 
as  might  be  expected,  in  the  triumph  of  faith. 

Deacon  J.  W.  Johnson  was  afterward  ordained  an  elder,  and  became  an 
active  member  in  the  Conference.  The  church  at  Trenton  to  a  large 
extent  was  built  by  him,  but  not  paid  for  by  several  hundred  dollars.  He 
improved  the  churches  at  Burlington,  Red  Bank,  and  Jersey  City. 

Deacon  J.  A.  Wright  afterward  joined  another  denomination.  He  was 
an  earnest  and  intelligent  man,  and  served  the  Church  with  credit  while 
he  remained  in  it. 

Preacher  Anthony  Jackson  became  an  elder  in  the  Church  and  was 
known  throughout  the  Conference  as  a  revivalist.  His  camp  meetings  in 
the  summer  months  usually  attracted  very  large  crowds.  He  was  a  man 
of  sunny  disposition  and  was  loved  by  his  brethren.  His  last  and  best 
work  was  done  at  Hempstead,  L.  I.,  where  he  built  the  beautiful  Zion 
Church,  now  standing  as  a  monument  to  his  active  efforts  in  the  closing 
years  of  his  life.     He  died  at  Hempstead  after  his  church  was  completed. 

Preachers  John  Smith  and  Henry  Cook,  after  remaining  members  of  the 
Conference  for  some  time,  finally  dropped  out  without  rising  to  the  higher 
orders  in  the  ministerial  ranks. 

Missionary  M.  G.  Laning,  after,  traveling  a  few  years  in  our  Church,  left 
and  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

This  first  session  of  the  New  Jersey  Conference  was  a  very  short  one, 
convening  as  it  did  Thursday  afternoon  at  4:30,  and  closing  the  following 
Monday  ;  yet  some  very  important  work  was  done.  Special  attention  was 
given  to  the  Sunday  school  work,  a  convention  being  called  to  meet  the 
following  October,  by  motion  offered  by  Dr.  Jacob  Thomas.f     This  Sun- 

*  See  sketch  o^his  life  on  p.  172. 
+  See  sketch  of  his  life  on  p.  223. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       387 

day  school  work  started  well,  but  fell  through,  so  far  as  the  conventions 
were  concerned.     It  was  reorganized  and  permanently  established  in  1890. 

Rev.  Thomas  Davis  was  received  into  the  Conference  from  the  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Church  this  year,  and  transferred  to  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference. 

A  literary  society  was  formed  by  this  Conference,  and  it  proved  a  source 
of  great  benefit  to  the  members  for  several  years.  It  had  for  its  name 
The  Clinton  Literary  Society.     It  finally  disbanded. 

The  missionary  work  came  in  for  its  share  of  attention  at  this  Con- 
ference. By  resolution  offered  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Purnell,  "each  minister 
was  required  to  organize  societies  in  his  charge  for  both  adults  and  chil- 
dren." There  were  eleven  appointments  in  the  new  Conference,  and  they 
were  the  following :  Jersey  City,  Paterson,  Somerville,  Red  Bank  and 
Eatontown,  Macedonia  and  Matawan,  Lodi  and  Paramus,  Rahway  and 
Newark,  Rossville  and  Port  Richmond,  West  Field  and  Plainfield,  Green- 
ville, and  Hackensack.  Of  Dr.  H.  M.  Wilson,  Rev.  William  H.  Dumpson, 
and  Deacon  J.  P.  Thompson,  who  visited  this  Conference  at  this  first 
session,  more  will  be  said  further  on. 

This  first,  short  but  pleasant  and  profitable  session  of  the  New  Jersey 
Annual  Conference  closed  Monday  afternoon,  to  meet  in  Rossville,  S.  I., 
second  Wednesday  in  June,  1875. 

Second  Session,  1875. — Although  the  Conference  adjourned  to  meet 
in  Rossville,  S.  I.,  it  was  changed  to  Red  Bank,  N.  J.  At  Red  Bank, 
then,  on  Wednesday,  June  9,  1875,  the  Conference  convened,  with  Bishop 
J.  J.  Clinton  presiding.     Rev.  J.  A.  Wright,  secretary. 

Among  the  new  names  that  appear  on  the  Conference  roll  this  year  are 
Elder  Nelson  Turpin,  Deacon  J.  P.  Thompson,  and  Preacher  J.  S.  Cowles. 
Received  on  trial,  Brother  John  H.  White. 

Elder  Turpin  had  been  an  active  minister  in  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  He  was  stationed  at  Jersey  City.  While  acknowledged 
by  his  brother  ministers  to  be  a  good  preacher,  he  was  not  a  success  in 
managing  his  church.  He  did  not  remain  long  in  our  Church,  but  returned 
to  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Deacon  J.  P.  Thompson  rapidly  rose  in  the  Conference,  and  soon  be- 
came one  of  our  great  church  builders.  See  account  of  him  elsewhere. 
Some  of  the  fields  of  his  labors  in  this  Conference  are  Paterson,  Camden, 
Red  Bank,  and  Asbury  Park ;  outside  the  Conference,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  York,  Pa.,  St.  Louis,  and  Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Preacher  J.  S.  Cowles  came  from  the  New  England  Conference,  was 
admitted  into  this  Conference  in  full  connection,  was  ordained  a  deacon 
and  made  collecting  agent  for  the  Rush  Monument  this  year.  He  did  not 
remain  in  the  Conference  long,  but  soon  rose  to  distinction  in  the  Church, 
having  filled  some  of  the  most  important  charges  in  the  Church.     Of  a 


388  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

sunny  disposition,  affable  and  gentlemanly  in  his  manners,  he  is  favor- 
ably known  throughout  the  Church.  Brother  John  H.  White,  who  was 
received  on  trial  this  year,  was  soon  received  into  full  connection,  and  has 
remained  in  the  Conference  ever  since.  He  has  filled  many  charges  with 
acceptability  in  the  Conference.  Gentlemanly  in  his  bearing,  deliberate  in 
judgment,  he  stands  well  with  his  brother  ministers. 

The  highest  amount  received  by  any  minister  this  year  was  $600 
paid  by  the  Jersey  City  church,  and  the  lowest  amount  $30,  paid  by  the 
mission  point,  Freehold.     The  Conference  adjourned  to  meet  in  Jersey  City. 

Third  Session,  1876. — This  session  met  in  Jersey  City,  with  Bishop 
Clinton  in  the  chair.  A  most  interesting  session  this  proved  to  be,  and 
much  good,  solid  work  was  accomplished.  Jersey  City  was  the  leading 
station  in  the  Conference. 

Fourth  Session. — The  fourth  session  met  in  Somerville,  N.  J.,  1877. 
The  Conference  convened  at  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  Bishop  J.  J. 
Moore,  D.D.,  was  the  presiding  bishop  this  year,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  White 
secretary.  Rev.  Charles  W.  Robinson  was  bishop's  steward,  an  office  which 
was  long  since  displaced  by  our  present  Conference  steward.  Of  the  pre- 
siding bishop  of  the  Conference  this  year  we  would  like  to  say  a  great  deal 
here,  but  the  fact  that  his  life  is  treated  at  length  elsewhere  in  this  History 
prevents  us.  While  Bishop  Clinton  is  appropriately  styled  the  founder  of 
the  Conference,  Bishop  Moore,  because  of  the  many  years  he  presided  over 
the  Conference,  is  instinctively  thought  of  as  a  father,  if  not  the  father,  of  the 
Conference.  For  eleven  years  he  presided  over  the  Conference  and  was 
greatly  loved  by  the  brethren,  as  were  all  the  bishops  who  have  presided 
over  the  Conference.  Elders  J.  A.  Williams,  Jacob  Trusty,  John  H.  Jones, 
and  T.  W.  H.  Hinton  appear  for  the  first  time  on  the  roll  of  member- 
ship this  year.  Elders  Williams  and  Trusty  have  long  since  died.  Elder 
Trusty  was  one  of  the  active  ministers  of  the  Conference  during  his  short 
stay  in  the  Conference.  He  soon  transferred  to  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference,  where  most  of  his  work  was  accomplished. 

Rev.  John  H.  Jones,  after  traveling  a  few  years  in  this  Conference, 
located  within  the  bounds  of  the  New  York  Conference,  to  which  he  sub- 
sequently transferred.  He  is  still  living  at  this  writing  (1894),  and  is  full 
of  the  oldtime  fire,  which  is  very  manifest  when  warmed  up  in  preaching. 

Rev.  T.  W.  H.  Hinton,  after  serving  the  Church  with  credit  in  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore  Conference,  transferred  to  the  New  Jersey  Conference 
and  filled  many  charges  with  credit  to  himself  and  the  Conference.  He 
finally  lost  both  his  sight  and  hearing.  He  is  now  on  the  superannuated 
list.  He  resides  at  Somerville,  his  last  charge,  where  he  enjoys  the  respect 
and  sympathy  of  the  whole  community.  Deacons  Israel  Jackson,  Moses 
K.  Harris,  and  Preachers  Joseph  D.  Jackson  and  William  Brogdon  appear 
on  the  roll  this  year.     None  of  these  brethren  remained  long  in  the  Con- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     389 

ference,  but  soon  returned,  most  of  them  to  serve  their  respective  churches 
in  local  capacity. 

Fifth  Session,  1878.— The  fifth  session  convened  at  Trenton.  Bishop 
Moore  was  the  presiding  bishop,  and  Rev.  J.  H.  White  secretary. 

Elders  Adam  Jackson,  W.  J.  Dorsey,  and  Deacon  James  Pinion  were 
the  new  members  received  this  year. 

Rev.  Adam  Jackson  had  transferred  from  the  New  York  Conference.  He 
is  a  man  of  pleasant  address  and  a  good  preacher.  After  serving  with  ac- 
ceptance several  churches  in  this  Conference,  he  returned  to  the  New  York 
Conference.  He  was  loved  by  his  brother  ministers  in  this  Conference. 
Elder  W.  J.  Dorsey  did  not  remain  long  in  the  Conference. 

Deacon  James  Pinion  came  to  this  Conference  from  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  Conference.  He  built  the  beautiful  little  chapel  at  Fleming- 
ton  in  1879.  He  afterward  became  a  superannuated  preacher  and  resided 
at  Pine  Brook  until  1892,  when  he  died. 

Sixth  Session,  1879. — The  sixth  annual  session  convened  at  Camden 
with  Bishop  Moore  in  the  chair.  Preacher  D.  D.  Brown  was  elected 
secretary.  After  attending  to  the  usual  business,  the  Conference  ad- 
journed to  meet  in  Burlington.  Asbury  Park  was  admitted  as  a  new 
society  this  year. 

Seventh  Session,  1880. — This  seventh  annual  session  convened  at 
Burlington  with  Bishop  Moore  in  the  chair  and  Rev.  J.  H.  White  secretary. 
Several  new  members  appear  on  the  roll  this  year.  Among  them  were 
Revs.  W.  H.  Griffiths,  Abram  Anderson,  T.  H.  Harris,  and  J.  H.  Hector, 
and  Deacons  Daniel  F.  Bradley  and  J.  C.  Palmer. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Griffiths  was  a  strong  man  intellectually,  and  a  most  pow- 
erful preacher.  In  fact,  he  had  but  few  equals  as  a  pulpit  orator  among 
the  race,  but  he  was  indiscreet  in  conversation,  hasty  in  conclusions,  and 
rash  in  action,  and  his  impetuous  temperament  brought  him  no  small  de- 
gree of  trouble.  He  did  not  remain  long  in  our  Church.  Having  been 
stationed  at  Jersey  City,  trouble  arose  between  him  and  the  church,  which 
resulted  in  his  withdrawal  from  our  Church  to  join  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Rev.  Abram  Anderson  served  as  the  first  regular 
presiding  elder  of  the  Conference.  He  remained  but  a  short  time  in  the 
Conference.     He  transferred  to  the  New  York  Conference. 

Rev.  T.  H.  Harris  came  from  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence. He  is  still  living,  and  is  one  of  the  oldest  members  in  the  Church. 
He  is  a  practical  preacher,  severe  in  discipline.  He  is  loved  by  his  younger 
brethren  in  the  ministry.  He  is  a  superannuated  preacher  now,  residing  in 
his  own  home  in  Burlington,  N.  J. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Hector  is  an  active  worker,  humorous  in  disposition,  and  a 
ready  talker.  His  time  is  spent  mostly  in  the  temperance  work.  Were 
his  time  given  entirely  to  the  ministry  he  would,  no  doubt,  soon  take  a 


390  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

high  place  among  the  clergy  of  the  Church.  He  transferred  to  the  Phila- 
delphia and  Baltimore  Conference  after  spending  a  few  years  in  the  New 
Jersey  Conference. 

Deacon  D.  F.  Bradley  came  from  the  New  England  Conference.  He 
filled  several  leading  appointments  in  the  Conference,  and  in  1892  trans- 
ferred to  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference. 

Deacon  J.  C.  Palmer  was  a  man  of  studious  habits,  a  devout  Christian, 
and  would  doubtless  have  arisen  to  distinction  in  the  Conference  had  he 
not  died  so  soon,  at  Pine  Brook,  N.  J.,  in  1883. 

Eighth  Session,  1881. — Bishop  J.  J.  Moore  was  the  presiding 
bishop  of  the  eighth  annual  session,  which  met  at  Red  Bank.  Rev.  J.  C. 
Palmer  was  the  secretary.  The  reports  for  this  year's  work  show  that  im- 
provements were  being  made  in  all  departments  of  the  Conference  work. 

Ninth  Session,  1882. — The  ninth  session  convened  in  Camden,  April 
19,  1882,  with  Bishop  Moore  as  the  chairman  and  Rev.  J.  C.  Palmer  secre- 
tary. This  year  brought  to  the  Conference  Elders  William  H.  Dumpson, 
H.  M.  Wilson,  D.D.,  G.  W.  Brown*  and  J.  T.  Marshall. 

Rev.  William  H.  Dumpson,  though  appearing  for  the  first  time  on  the 
Conference  roll  as  a  member,  was  not  unknown  to  the  Conference.  He 
is  one  of  the  veterans  in  the  Church,  having  spent  most  of  his  time  in  the 
New  York  Conference.  He  is  a  good,  spiritual  preacher,  a  hard  worker, 
and  full  of  old-time  Methodist  fire.     He  is  still  in  the  active  pastorate. 

Dr.  H.  M.  Wilson  was  a  man  of  pronounced  scholarship,  an  indefati- 
gable worker,  a  polished  gentleman,  easy  in  manners,  affable  in  address,  a 
good  conversationalist,  and  a  devout  Christian.  He  had  been  educated  as 
a  Presbyterian  minister,  but  early  joined  our  Church.  He  was  for  years 
connected  with  our  Book  Concern.  He  filled  important  charges  in  the  New 
York  Conference,  and  also  in  this  Conference.  His  crowning  effort  was 
the  erection  of  our  Newark  church  on  Pennington  Street.  He  died  just 
as  he  had  finished  this  church,  in  1889.  He  was  loved  by  all  who  knew 
him.  Rev.  G.  W.  Brown  was  from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Savannah, 
Ga.,  and  was  sent  to  the  church  at  Newark  from  this  Conference. 

Rev.  J.  T.  Marshall  entered  the  Conference  three  years  earlier  as  a 
preacher.  Silas  Holmes,  as  far  back  as  1881,  appears  on  the  Conference 
roll  as  missionary  agent.     He  holds  this  place  up  to  this  writing. 

T.  T.  B.  Reed  and  H.  S.  Hicks  appear  as  preachers  this  year.  They 
did  not  remain  long  in  the  Conference,  but  located.  Up  to  this  date,  1882, 
there  had  been  no  presiding  elders  in  the  Conference,  but  this  year  the 
Conference  was  divided  into  two  presiding  elder  districts,  and  Dr.  H.  M. 
Wilson  and  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson  placed  in  charge.  They  had  their  reg- 
ular charges  from  which  they  drew  their  salaries.  They  visited  the 
churches  in  their  districts  as  time  and  opportunity  would  allow. 

Tenth  Session,  1883. — The  Conference  met  this  year  in  Jersey  City. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       39 1 

A  new  presiding  officer  occupied  the  chair  this  year  in  the  person  of  Bishop 
J.  P.  Thompson,  M.D.,  D.D.  He  is  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  an 
ardent  lover  of  his  Church,  and  a  successful  financier.*  Rev.  J.  C.  Palmer 
was  elected  secretary. 

Eleventh  Session,  1884. — Conference  convened  this  year  at  Trenton, 
with  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson  in  the  chair,  and  Rev.  D.  F.  Bradley  secretary. 
The  new  members  this  year  were  Elders  P.  L.  Stanford,  E.  Hamet,  A.  A. 
DeFord  ;  Deacons  M.  M.  Edmonson,  J.  Tilghman  ;  Preachers  R.  F.  Butler 
and  F.  E.  Owens. 

Rev.  P.  L.  Stanford,  while  a  new  member  in  the  Conference,  had  been 
preaching  for  many  years  in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
He  is  happy  and  congenial  as  a  companion  and  a  man  of  deep-seated  piety. 

Elder  Hamet  also  came  from  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
Though  coming  into  the  Conference  a  comparative  stranger  to  many, 
by  his  high  Christian  character,  his  untiring  and  successful  labors  in  every 
charge  he  has  had  since  entering  the  Conference,  he  has  succeeded  in 
making  a  most  favorable  impression  on  all  his  brother  ministers.  He 
built  the  beautiful  church  at  Pine  Brook. 

Deacon  Morris  M.  Edmonson  joined  the  Conference  in  1882,  and  was 
ordained  an  elder  in  1886.  Beginning  at  the  very  bottom  of  the  ministerial 
ranks,  he  has  by  hard  work  and  studious  habits  risen  to  be  one  of  the 
principal  members  of  the  Conference.  He  has  not  only  filled  successfully 
some  of  the  leading  charges  in  the  Conference,  but  has  been  one  of  the 
leading  spirits  in  all  the  Conference  interests,  such  as  missionary,  church 
extension,  and  Sunday  school  work. 

Preacher  R.  F.  Butler,  joining  the  Conference  this  year,  was  ordained 
elder  in  1888.  He  has  been  a  hard  worker  since  joining  the  Conference, 
and  has  made  a  success  of  all  the  points  to  which  he  has  been  appointed. 
He  gave  the  Hackensack  church  its  present  beautiful  appearance.  Of  a 
happy  disposition,  he  is  well  thought  of  by  his  brethren. 

Preacher  F.  E.  Owens  was  ordained  an  elder  in  1888.  He  is  a  man  of 
a  studious  cast  of  mind,  and  has  served  the  Conference  several  times  as 
statistical  secretary.  He  is  an  active  worker,  and  loved  by  his  comrades 
in  the  ministry.  Rev.  J.  H.  White  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of  First 
District  this  year.  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson  retained  the  Second  District. 
Bishop  Thompson  had  associated  with  him  this  year  that  far-sighted,  clear- 
headed, logical  thinker,  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  who  has  but  few,  if  any, 
equals  among  Afro- American  bishops  as  a  presiding  officer,  t 

Twelfth  Session,  1885. — This  session  was  held  at  Red  Bank,  with 
Bishop  Thompson  presiding,  and  Rev.  D.  F.  Bradley  secretary.  The  new 
members  were  Elders  W.  T.  Biddle  and  E.  M.  Stanton,  Deacons  J.  F.  Rob- 
inson and  Fillmore  Smith,  Preacher  A.  J.  Reed. 

*See  cut  and  sketch  of  his  life  on  p.  188.  t  See  sketch  of  his  life  on  p.  186. 

27 


392  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Rev.  William  T.  Biddle  came  from  the  Genesee  Conference.  He  has 
long  been  known  as  one  of  the  best  preachers,  not  only  in  the  Conference, 
but  in  the  Church.  He  joined  the  itinerancy  in  i860,  and  was  ordained  an 
elder  two  years  later.  He  is  a  logical  thinker  and  strong  debater,  and  well 
informed  on  ecclesiastical  law. 

Rev.  E.  M.  Stanton  came  from  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence. A  devout  Christian,  a  hard  student,  a  polished  gentleman,  he 
stands  well  in  the  Conference.  His  sermons  are  plain  but  practical.  He 
is  at  this  writing  the  Conference  steward. 

Deacon  J.  F.  Robinson,  a  bright  and  intelligent  young  man,  was  ordained 
elder  the  next  year,  1886.  He  did  good  service  in  the  Church  for  six 
years,  and  then  joined  the  Baptist  Church. 

Deacon  Fillmore  Smith  was  ordained  elder  in  1886.  He  possesses  a 
good  deal  of  originality,  is  a  fluent  talker  and  a  good  debater.  He  has 
done  some  good  work  in  the  Conference,  his  principal  work  being  done 
in  Paterson. 

Preacher  A.  J.  Reed  did  not  remain  long  in  the  Conference. 

The  presiding  eldership  as  arranged  prior  to  this  date  was  this  year 
abandoned,  and  Rev.  Abram  Anderson  was  appointed  the  regular  presiding 
elder  over  the  entire  Conference. 

Thirteenth  Session,  1886. — This  session  met  at  Atlantic  City.  This 
was  the  first  time  Atlantic  City  had  the  chance  to  entertain  the  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  Thompson  was  the  chairman,  and  Rev.  M.  M.  Edmonson 
secretary.     The  usual  Conference  business  was  attended  to. 

Fourteenth  Session,  1887. — The  Conference  met  this  year  in  Asbury 
Park,  Bishop  Moore  presiding,  and  Rev.  M.  M.  Edmonson  secretary. 
Bishop  Hood  associated  with  Bishop  Moore  this  year. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Barnes  appears  on  the  roll  for  the  first  time  this  year.  There 
were  several  young  preachers  who  joined  this  year.  Among  them  were 
G.  H.  Cole,  M.  T.  Anderson,  P.  H.  Tinson,  W.  H.  Way  man,  A.  Watson. 

Rev.  G.  H.  Cole  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  1890  and  an  elder  in  1893. 
He  is  an  active  worker,  and  has  succeeded  well  wherever  sent.  He  built  a 
beautiful  church  at  Park  Ridge.  M.  T.  Anderson  was  ordained  deacon  in 
1892.  He  is  an  earnest  and  faithful  worker,  and  has  succeeded  in  building 
a  neat  little  chapel  at  Ridgewood. 

P.  H.  Tinson  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  1890.  He  is  an  earnest  and 
faithful  worker.  The  regular  presiding  eldership  was  disposed  of  this 
year  and  the  old  system  restored,  with  the  exception  that  the  Conference 
was  now  divided  into  four  districts  instead  of  two. 

Fifteenth  Session,  1888. — At  Hackensack  the  Conference  met  for 
the  first  time  this  year.  Bishop  Moore  was  the  chairman,  and  Rev.  W.  T. 
Biddle  was  secretary. 

Rev.  J.  B.  Saunders  was  the  only  new  member  this  year.     He  came 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       393 

from  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference.  He  has  filled  sev- 
eral appointments  in  the  Conference.  He  is  loved  by  his  brother  min- 
isters. 

Sixteenth  Session,  1889. — This  session  convened  at  Paterson.  The 
new  members  were  Revs.  G.  H.  Carl,  J.  F.  Page,  G.  H.  W.  Smith,  and 
B.  F.  Wheeler.  Elder  Page  came  from  the  Virginia  Conference,  and 
transferred  before  the  year  was  out  to  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore 
Conference.  Rev.  G.  H.  Carl  came  to  us  from  the  Baptist  Church  ;  after 
serving  a  year  or  two  in  the  itinerancy  he  located  at  Asbury  Park.  Rev. 
G.  H.  W.  Smith  had  been  a  member  of  several  different  Conferences  in  our 
Church.  He  was  stationed  at  Flemington,  of  which  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler 
had  the  oversight.  He  was  expelled  from  the  Church  at  the  next  session 
of  the  Conference  at  Trenton.  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler  had  been  a  member 
of  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference.  He  studied  four  years  in 
Oberlin  Preparatory  School ;  had  finished  his  college  course  at  Lincoln 
University,  and  was  now  a  student  in  Drew  Theological  Seminary,  Madi- 
son, N.  J.,  in  his  senior  year.  He  took  charge  of  the  Somerville  work. 
He  joined  the  itinerancy  in  1885. 

Seventeenth  Session,  1890. — This  year  the  Conference  met  in 
Trenton,  April  16,  1890.  Bishop  Moore  was  the  chairman,  and  Rev.  B.  F. 
Wheeler  was  elected  secretary.  Rev.  John  G.  Urling  was  added  to  the 
Conference  roll  this  year.  He  had  been  a  missionary  in  Demerara  for  twenty- 
five  years.  He  had  been  placed  in  charge  of  the  church  at  Newark,  at  the 
death  of  Dr.  H.  M.  Wilson,  during  the  interval  of  the  Conference.  Fie 
transferred  this  year  from  the  New  Jersey  to  the  Genesee  Conference. 
Elder  Urling  is  a  good  Hebrew  scholar,  affable  and  gentlemanly  in  his 
manners. 

Eighteenth  Session,  1891.— At  Camden,  Wednesday,  April  22,  1891, 
Bishop  Moore  called  the  Conference  to  order.  Rev.  B.  F.  Wheeler  was 
elected  secretary.  Rev.  J.  A.  D.  Bloice  joined  the  Conference  this  year. 
He  had  transferred  from  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference.  He 
is  the  first  graduate  from  Livingstone  College,  is  now  a  student  in  Union 
Theological  Seminary.  He  began  to  preach  in  1885,  was  ordained  an 
elder  in  1888.     He  is  an  able  preacher  and  a  devout  Christian. 

At  this  session  four  presiding  elders  were  abandoned  and  one  presiding 
elder  placed  over  the  whole  work.  Rev.  J.  H.  White  was  elected  to  that 
office. 

Nineteenth  Session,  1892. — The  Conference  convened  this  year  in 
Somerville,  with  Bishop  Moore  in  the  chair  and  Rev.  J.  A.  D.  Bloice 
secretary.  The  new  members  this  year  were  Elder  E.  Forman,  Deacon 
J.  H.  Mason,  Preachers  L.  G.  Mason,  Louis  Hicks,  and  E.  C.  Black. 

Elder  Forman  came  from  Genesee  Conference,  and  after  one  year's  good 
work  at  Matawan  transferred  to  the  New  York  Conference. 


394  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Deacon  J.  H.  Mason  had  been  a  member  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more Conference.  He  was  ordained  an  elder  at  this  Conference  and 
assigned  to  Pine  Brook  and  Reveytown  churches.  He  did  good  service 
there,  but  the  next  year,  1893,  was  sent  to  Newark.  His  efforts  at  Newark 
have  been  very  successful. 

Preacher  L.  G.  Mason  is  a  brother  to  Elder  J.  H.  Mason.  He  ac- 
complished a  good  work  at  Englewood,  his  first  charge,  having  purchased 
a  lot  and  built  a  beautiful  little  chapel  there,  most  of  it  paid  for.  The 
church,  however,  was  not  entirely  finished  inside.  He  was  ordained  a 
deacon  next  year  and  warmly  praised  by  the  Committee  on  Ministerial 
Studies  for  the  proficiency  he  showed  in  his  studies. 

Louis  Hicks  located  this  year. 

E.  C.  Black  has  continued  in  the  Conference  up  to  date,  and  is  loved  by 
brethren  especially  on  account  of  his  good  spiritual  singing. 

Twentieth  Session,  1893. — This  session  met  at  Burlington,  April  26, 
with  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson,  M.D.,  D.D.,  the  presiding  bishop.  Bishop 
Thompson  being  unable  to  be  present  on  account  of  sickness,  Bishop 
J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  was  requested  to  preside,  which  he  did.  Bishop 
Alexander  Walters,  D.D.,  was  associated  with  Bishop  Hood.  Rev.  J.  A.  D. 
Bloice  was  elected  secretary.  The  new  members  were  Elders  C.  E. 
Steward,  J.  T.  Tilghman,  Luther  Duffin,  and  Preacher  R.  S.  Cottene. 

There  being  no  regular  appointment  for  Elder  Steward  he  did  not 
remain  idle,  but  organized  a  good  and  flourishing  society  in  Bayonne 
City,  N.  J. 

Elder  Duffin  came  from  the  Union  Church,  and  was  during  the  interval 
of  the  Conference  placed  in  charge  of  the  church  at  Asbury  Park. 

Preacher  R.  S.  Cottene  came  to  the  ministerial  ranks  with  a  good  deal 
of  experience  in  finance  and  real  estate,  and  will  no  doubt  succeed  well  in 
the  ministry.  He  has  greatly  improved  the  church  in  Englewood,  and 
bids  fair  to  keep  up  the  good  record  he  has  made  thus  far. 

The  New  Jersey  Conference,  though  one  of  the  smallest  in  the  Church, 
has  always  been  an  aggressive  body. 

The  Sunday  school  work  began  when  the  Conference  was  organized. 
But  that  work  soon  went  down  so  far  as  its  annual  conventions  were  con- 
cerned. It  was  reorganized  and  firmly  established  in  1890.  Rev.  B.  F. 
Wheeler  was  elected  president  successively  for  the  years  1890,  1891,  1892, 
1893,  and  Rev.  E.  M.  Stanton  president  for  the  year  1894. 

The  Church  Extension  Board  has  been  in  operation  in  the  Conference 
for  many  years.  That  and  the  Missionary  Society  were  united  in  the  year 
1882,  at  Red  Bank,  and  from  that  time  these  two  branches  of  our  Church 
work  have  been  run  as  regularly  incorporated  bodies.  The  present  officers 
of  this  incorporated  body  are  Rev.  William  T.  Biddell,  President ;  Rev. 
M.  M.  Edmonson,  Treasurer ;  Rev.  J.  B.  Saunders,  Secretary ;  Rev.  B.  F. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       395 

Wheeler,  President  Board  of  Trustees.  For  many  years  Mrs.  Letitia 
Clinton,  widow  of  the  late  Bishop  Clinton,  was  Vice  President  of  the 
Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  but  this  amiable  mother 
in  Israel  having  died,  Mrs.  Katie  Walters,  wife  of  Bishop  Walters,  was  in 
1893  elected  to  that  office,  which  she  still  holds  with  great  credit  to  her- 
self and  the  Church. 

Up  to  date,  1893,  three  bishops  have  had  regular  charge  of  the  Con- 
ference :  Bishop  Clinton,  1 874-1 876  ;  Bishop  Moore,  1877-1882;  Bishop 
Thompson,  1883-1886;  Bishop  Moore,  1887-1892  ;  Bishop  Thompson, 
1893.  Fifty-two  elders  have  been  members  of  the  Conference,  sixteen 
of  whom  were  ordained  by  this  Conference,  twenty-eight  were  ordained 
before  joining  the  Conference,  and  eight  were  charter  members. 

The  time  and  place  of  convening  of  the  Conference,  with  the  bishop  and 
secretary  of  each  session,  are  as  follows  : 


TIME. 

PLACE. 

BISHOP. 

SECRETARY. 

1874 

Red  Bank. 

J.  J.  Clinton. 

J.  A.  Wright. 

1875 

Red  Bank. 

I- 

J.  Clinton. 

J.  A.  Wright. 

I876 

Jersey  City. 

I- 

J.  Clinton. 

1877 

Somerville. 

1. 

J.  Moore. 

J.  H.  White. 

I878 

Trenton. 

I 

J.  Moore. 

J.  H.  White. 

I879 

Camden. 

T- 

J.  Moore. 

D.  D.  Brown. 

I88O 

Burlington. 

I 

J.  Moore. 

J.  H.  White. 

l88l 

Red  Bank. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

J.  C.  Palmer. 

1882 

Camden. 

1 

J.  Moore. 

J.  C.  Palmer. 

I883 

Jersey  City. 

I 

P.  Thompson. 

J.  C.  Palmer. 

I884 

Trenton. 

I 

P.  Thompson. 

D.  F.  Bradley. 

I885 

Red  Bank. 

I 

P.  Thompson. 

D.  F.  Bradley. 

1886 

Atlantic  City. 

T 

P.  Thompson. 

M.  M.  Edmonson. 

I887 

Asbury  Park. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

M.  M.  Edmonson. 

1888 

Hackensack. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

W.  T.  Biddle. 

I889 

Paterson. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

D.  F.  Bradley. 

I89O 

Trenton. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

B.  F.  Wheeler. 

I89I 

Camden. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

B.  F.  Wheeler. 

I892 

Somerville. 

T 

J.  Moore. 

J.  A.  D.  Bloice. 

1893 

Burlington. 

J 

.  P.  Thompson. 

J.  A.  D.  Bloice. 

STATISTICS   FOR    1874. 

Churches 16 

Members 544 

Probationers 138 

Sabbath  School  Scholars  . . .  427 

Volumes  in  Library 1,690 

Value  Church  Property $22,000 


STATISTICS   FOR    1893. 

Churches 22 

Members 975 

Probationers 33 

Sabbath  School  Scholars. ...  1,186 

Volumes  in  Library 3,927 

Value  Church  Property $40,645 


396 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


We  give  below  the  Conference  appointments  for  the  years  1874  and  1893 


APPOINTMENTS, 

874. 

API'OINTMEiNTS,    1893. 

I. 

Jersey  City. 

1. 

Jersey  City. 

2. 

Paterson. 

2. 

Paterson. 

3- 

Somerville. 

3- 

Somerville  and  Flemington. 

4- 

Red  Bank  and  Eatontown. 

4- 

Red  Bank. 

5- 

Macedonia  and  Matawan. 

5- 

Pine  Brook  and  Reveytown. 

6. 

Lodi  and  Paramus. 

6. 

Lodi  and  Park  Ridge. 

7- 

Railway  and  Newark. 

7- 

Newark. 

8. 

Rossville  and  Port  Richmond. 

8. 

Rossville. 

9- 

Westfield  and  Plainfield. 

9- 

Hackensack. 

10. 

Greenville. 

10. 

Asbury  Park. 

11. 

Hackensack. 

11. 
12. 

13- 
14. 

15- 
16. 

17- 
18. 
19. 
20. 

Atlantic  City. 

Burlington. 

Camden. 

Eatontown. 

Matawan. 

Paramus. 

Ridgewood. 

Trenton. 

Timbucto  and  Kincora. 

Englewood. 

REV.    B.    F.    WHEELER,    B.D. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Charlotte,  N.  C, 
February  6,  1854.  He  was  born  again  in  Mother  Zion 
Church,  New  York,  January  20,  1876.  When  a  child 
he  was  baptized  in  Clinton  Chapel,  Charlotte,  N.  C,  of 
which  church  all  his  relatives  were  members,  He  was 
a  Sabbath  school  scholar  at  Clinton  Chapel  under  Elder 
J.  W.  Hood,  now  bishop.  He  has  now  in  his  possession 
books  given  him  at  that  time  by  that  distinguished  divine 
for  excellence  in  Sunday  school  work.  These  books  he 
cherishes  highly.  Always  of  self-reliant  cast  of  mind,  he 
early  left  home  to  make  his  own  living  and  "  to  get  rich." 
He  had  attended  the  free  schools  at  Charlotte,  conducted  by 
the  friends  at  the  North.  He  was  always  fond  of  worldly 
pleasure,  and  into  it  he  plunged  with  all  the  ardor  of  his 
soul.    In  1874  he  came  to  New  York.    This  he  did  against 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH. 


397 


the  strong  protest  of  friends  and  relatives  at  home,  who 
knew  too  well  of  his  worldly  inclinations.  In  New  York 
he  soon  gathered  around  him  a  large  circle  of  friends 
nearly  as  worldly  as  himself,  from  the  South,  especially 


REV.    B.    F.    WHEELER,    B.D. 


from  the  "  Old  North  State."  Of  these  young  men  whom 
he  gathered  around  him  for  social  pleasure  the  place  of 
leader  was  at  once  accorded  to  him  because  of  the  un- 
bridled audacity  with  which  he  plunged  into  sin.     In  the 


398  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

midst  of  his  wild  revelings  he  was  converted  in  Zion 
Church,  New  York,  in  1876,  Rev.  J.  H.  Smith  then  pastor. 
He  at  once  felt  called  to  preach.  He  did  not  stop  hunt- 
ing up  his  old  comrades  until  every  one  of  them  had  been 
brought  into  the  fold.  The  pressure  of  his  call  to  preach 
became  so  great  that  he  resolved  to  obey  at  once.  But  he 
felt  that  he  sadly  lacked  the  qualifications  for  the  minis- 
try of  to-day.  Hence  he  decided  upon  taking  a  thorough 
course  of  training  for  the  work ;  he  went  to  Oberlin  and 
entered  the  preparatory  department  of  that  school  in 
1877.  The  first  year  was  devoted  to  English  branches. 
Then  he  went  through  the  regular  junior,  middle,  and 
senior  classes  of  the  classical  preparatory  department. 
One  more  year  was  spent  in  reviewing  certain  branches 
over  which  he  had  gone.  The  hardest  pecuniary  struggles 
of  his  life  were  experienced  while  at  Oberlin  in  trying  to 
pay  his  own  way  through  school  with  what  money  he 
could  earn  during  the  summer  vacation  of  two  and  a  half 
months.  It  often  happened  that  on  returning  to  school 
by  the  time  he  paid  up  expenses  and  debts  of  the  preceding 
year  he  would  not  have  money  enough  to  matriculate. 
But  he  worked  for  his  board,  sawing  wood  in  the  middle 
of  winter  from  four  o'clock  in  the  morning,  by  candle 
light,  until  day ;  and  by  getting  credit  for  his  room  rent 
and  other  necessary  expenses  he  would  pull  through  the 
school  year.  For  months  he  would  be  without  even  a 
penny  with  which  to  send  a  postal  card  home.  But  it 
was  no  disgrace  to  be  poor  at  Oberlin.  Most  of  the 
students  were  poor,  ninety-two  per  cent  of  whom  were 
white.  He  never  told  any  of  his  friends  at  home  or  else- 
where of  his  dreadfully  straitened  circumstances.    He  now 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     399 

regards  those  days  of  adversity  as  not  among  the  least 
agencies  in  fitting  him  for  the  stern  realities  of  life.  He 
entered  the  sophomore  class  at  Lincoln  University  in 
1883  and  graduated  with  the  class  of  1885  with  the  degree 
of  A.B.,  and  pronounced  the  oration  in  Greek  on  class 
day.  He  entered  the  theological  department  of  the  same 
school  the  next  year,  and  while  pursuing  his  studies  in 
theology  was  engaged  by  the  faculty  as  tutor  in  Greek  in 
the  preparatory  department.  He  was  licensed  to  preach 
in  1884,  was  received  into  the  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more Conference  in  1885,  ordained  deacon  in  1886,  and 
elder  in  1888.  He  graduated  with  the  degree  of  S.T.B. 
In  the  fall  of  1888  he  entered  the  senior  class  of  Drew 
Theological  Seminary  and  graduated  with  the  degree  of 
B.D.  He  was  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  in  1888 
and  1892.  His  success  at  Summerville  has  been  mar- 
velous. 

BAHAMA  ISLAND  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  P. 
Thompson,  December  16,  1877.  Wilbur  G.  Strong,  who 
attended  the  bishop  in  nearly  all  his  efforts  in  the  far  South, 
was  also  present  with  Bishop  Thompson  at  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  Conference.  There  were  fourteen  ministers 
present,  several  of  whom  were  from  the  Florida  Confer- 
ence. Eleven  hundred  and  seventy-four  members  were 
reported.  Below  we  give  the  roll  of  Conference  member- 
ship : 

Elders,  Joseph  Sexton,  W.  C.  Vesta,  G.  W.  Maize, 
W.  A.  Bain,  J.  R.  Harris,  J.  M.  Sims. 

Deacons,  R.  R.  Frederick,  James  Dudley,  W.  J.  San- 
ders, A.  Long. 


400         ,  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

Preachers,  H.  E.  Jones,  A.  L.  Higgs,  R.  W.  Ballard, 
J.  D.  Ballard. 

Candidates,  J.  H.  Jordan,  J.  F.  Fobbs,  D.  E.  White, 
H.  W.  White. 

CANADA  AND  MICHIGAN  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  Lomax  in 
the  city  of  Detroit,  Mich.,  September  n,  1879.  The 
number  of  preachers  present  was  thirty-two.  Four 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  members  were  reported.  This 
was  the  second  effort  to  organize  a  Conference  in  Canada. 
At  the  General  Conference  in  1 860  there  was  a  delegation 
from  Canada,  which  indicates  that  there  was  at  least  the 
nucleus  of  a  Conference  at  that  time.  But  when  the  great 
Southern  field  was  thrown  open  to  our  efforts  the  work 
in  the  British  domain  was  neglected,  and  it  was  not  until 
we  had  began  to  reap  a  harvest  of  preachers  from  the 
Southern  field  that  we  were  able  to  take  up  that  work 
again.  Bishop  Lomax  was  decidedly  successful,  but  un- 
fortunately he  was  not  continued  long  enough  on  that 
work,  and  it  is  languishing  again.  In  fact,  this  is  one  of 
the  very  few  points  in  the  entire  connection  that  is  not 
showing  satisfactory  progress.  The  roll  of  members  at 
the  organization  was  as  follows : 

Bishop,  T.  H.  Lomax. 

Presiding  Elders,  D.  Butler,  J.  R.  Alexander,  J.  B. 
Holliday,  R.  M.  Johnson. 

Deacons,  A.  Tol,  G.  W.  Gordon,  G.  Solomon,  N.  Scoles, 
S.  Stevens,  T.  J.  C.  Green,  T.  T.  Brown,  J.  Cornelius. 

Preachers,  W.  B.  Campbell,  I.  Sisco,  William  Fleming, 
A.  Wilson. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       4OI 

CENTRAL  NORTH  CAROLINA  CONFERENCE. 

This  is  the  fifth  offspring  of  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference. It  was  set  off  and  formed  in  the  last  week  in 
November,  1879,  by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood.  It  included 
about  twenty-five  counties  west  of  Raleigh  and  east  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  Mountains.  The  colored  people  are  not  so 
numerous  in  that  part  of  the  State  as  they  are  in  the  sec- 
tion occupied  by  the  mother  Conference.  But  the  larger 
portion  of  the  young  and  more  progressive  men  went 
with  the  new  Conference.  Besides  this,  in  the  central 
portion  of  the  State  there  is  less  opposition.  In  some  of 
the  counties  in  the  east  the  Baptists  are  strong.  It  is  not 
so  much  so  in  the  section  occupied  by  the  Central  Con- 
ference. Besides  this,  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
(Bethel)  Church  has  a  strong  hold  in  the  east.  The  main 
strength  of  that  Church  in  the  State  is  in  the  vicinity  of 
Wilmington  and  Raleigh. 

In  most  of  the  section  covered  by  the  Central  Confer- 
ence that  Church  is  hardly  known.  There  is  nowhere  in 
the  connection  a  better  behaved  set  of  ministers  than  those 
of  the  Central  Conference.  They  express  themselves  on 
any  subject  in  Conference  readily  and  freely,  but  do  not 
waste  time.  It  is  very  seldom  that  a  member  of  that 
Conference  rises  to  speak  unless  he  has  something  to 
say  and  something  that  is  worth  saying.  Quiet  dignity 
is  the  characteristic  of  these  ministers.  A  dignified 
Christian  ministerial  bearing  is  their  apparent  aim.  This 
Conference  has  also  an  offspring,  namely,  the  Western 
North  Carolina  Conference,  which  has  reduced  it  to 
about  half  its  former  size.      It  has  now  four  presiding 


402  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

elders'  districts,  presided  over  by  able  and  energetic  men. 
Elder  Hill,  the  senior  presiding  elder  of  the  Conference, 
was  always  a  favorite  pastor,  and  could  stay  any  number  of 
years.  Although  he  is  not  so  fond  of  the  position  of  pre- 
siding elder,  yet  he  makes  a  most  excellent  officer.  Elder 
Thomas's  ambition  is  to  be  excelled  by  none,  and  he  will 
keep  the  man  busy  who  excels  him.  Elder  Mattocks  as  a 
pastor  has  long  been  known  as  one  of  the  best  disciplina- 
rians in  the  State,  and  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  success 
in  his  new  field.  Elder  George  H.  Miles  is  well  equipped, 
and  ought  to  succeed.  The  following  is  the  roll  of  the 
Conference  for  1892  and  1893: 

Presiding  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  J.  J.  Moore,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elders,  Revs.  James  M.  Hill,  John  W. 
Thomas,  John  H.  Mattocks,  George  H.  Miles. 

Annual  Conference  Steward,  Rev.  M.  S.  Kell. 

Secretary,  Rev.  J.  T.  Gibbons. 

Recording  Secretary,  Rev.  S.  J.  Hargrave. 

Statistical  Secretary,  Rev.  G.  R.  Morris. 

Episcopal  Secretary,  Rev.  W.  J.  Sides. 

Compiler,  Rev.  J.  M.  Hill. 

Fraternal  Delegate,  Rev.  C.  D.  Hazel. 

Elders,  Revs.  J.  E.  McNeill,  R.  M.  Thompson,  A.  M. 
Barrett,  W.  H.  Goler,  D.D.,  C.W.  Simmons,  J.  H.  Love, 
W.  H.  Waddill,  T.  B.  McCain,  J.  S.  Settle,  W.  R. 
Hunter,  J.  W.  Harris,  A.  J.  McDonald,  R.  Hasty,  D.  A. 
Williams,  G.  B.  Kelly,  R.  C.  Moore,  D.  A.  Kelly,  G.  W. 
Grange. 

Deacons,  Revs.  W.  B.  Gordon,  M.  G.  Gains,  C.  B. 
Fletcher,  Kanest  Gibson,  W.  J.  Gains,  W.  O.  Waddell, 
T.  H.  Stevenson,  R.  L.  Edwards,  A.  S.  Hubbard,  W.  D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      403 

Dickerson,  I.  A.  Cameron,  Dennis  Hogans,  Jr.,  C.  P. 
S.  Harrison,  N.  B.  Stelly,  W.  A.  Darwin,  H.  C.  Cham- 
bers, D.  G.  Howie,  W.  H.  Davenport,  J.  F.  Torrence, 
S.  J.  Hargrave,  G.  W.  Williams,  Jack  Murchison,  C.  R. 
Leak,  C.  McNeill,  John  J.  Stitt,  James  Mask,  E.  B.  Ben- 
nett, D.  W.  Smith,  J.  B.  Bailey,  R.  H.  Bright,  R.  Allen, 
G.  Sneed,  J.  C.  Cox. 

Preachers,  Brothers  A.  J.  McNeill,  B.  J.  Walker,  G. 
W.  Richardson,  D.  H.  Little,  M.  G.  Wadkins. 

Delegates,    Professors    E.    B.    Wall,    R.   A.    Simmons, 

Watkins.     Brothers  H.  G.  Moose,  M.  P.  Thompson, 

G.  W.  McDougald. 

WARREN  C.    COLEMAN. 

Mr.  Warren  C.  Coleman  was  born  a  slave  in  Cabarrus 
County,  N.  C,  on  March  25,  1849.  His  boyhood  was 
not  eventful  before  emancipation,  except  it  might  be 
noted  that  he  learned  the  shoemaker's  trade  and  under 
the  compulsion  of  a  slave  pursued  the  same  to  some  ex- 
tent in  the  interest  of  the  Confederate  cause.  Being  a 
minor  at  the  emancipation,  he  was  detained  as  a  bound 
boy,  and  was  required  to  perform  the  most  menial  and 
laborious  work.  This  undoubtedly  contributed  to  arouse 
his  ambition  to  find  a  way  to  better  things  for  himself,  or 
to  resolve,  if  he  could  not  find  a  way,  he  would  make  one. 
Mr.  Coleman  very  early  manifested  that  tact  in  business 
which  has  characterized  his  success  along  that  line  in 
later  years.  After  reaching  his  majority  for  a  while  he 
engaged  himself  variously  in  trading  and  peddling,  and 
with  varying  results,  all  the  while  evincing  an  insight 
into  business  methods  that  was  sure  to  gain  success  by 


404 


one  Hundred  years  of  the 


being  cherished  and  developed.  He  concluded  to  set  up 
a  barber  shop  in  connection  with  a  bakery,  a  somewhat 
novel  combination,  but  all  along  the  line  of  Mr.  Cole- 
man's nature — that  is,  his  life,  must  be  active  and  reflect- 
ive of  perseverance.  Perseverance  has  been  a  prominent 
characteristic  of  the  man,  and  this,  coupled  with  a  trust- 


WARREN    C    COLEMAN. 


worthy  intelligence,  has  brought  him  the  "  future  good, 
and  future  meed."  In  1870  he  went  to  Alabama,  but  re- 
turned in  1 87 1,  in  the  meantime  receiving  instruction  in 
books  from  his  former  young  master,  William  M.  Cole- 
man. After  returning  from  Alabama,  Mr.  Coleman 
followed  farming,  but  it  was  apparent  his  calling  lay 
upon  a  more  select  if  not  a  higher  plane  of  activity,  and, 
at  the  suggestion  of  his  former  young  master,  he  went  in 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      405 

1873  to  Howard  University,  bearing  a  recommendation 
from  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood  and  reaching  the  university 
at  the  close  of  the  session.  The  surprise  which  this  last 
clause  must  certainly  arouse  would  suggest  that  up  to 
this  time  Mr.  Coleman  had  not  made  sufficient  acquaint- 
ance with  literary  affairs  to  know  the  order  of  school 
terms  and  sessions.  But,  nothing  daunted,  he  holds  on, 
inspired  by  his  characteristic  intelligent  perseverance, 
and  enters  at  the  opening  of  the  next  session.  He  had 
not  money  sufficient  to  bear  his  expenses,  and  was  there- 
fore under  necessity  to  support  himself  by  extra  service 
on  the  school  grounds.  For  this  Mr.  Coleman  was  well 
prepared  by  temperament  and  otherwise.  He  also  made 
some  money  while  there  by  selling  jewelry  and  articles 
in  kind.  It  is  in  the  field  of  barter  and  trade  that  the 
subject  of  our  sketch  finds  his  most  attractive  and  effect- 
ive school.     In  1874  he  returned  to  Concord. 

Of  course  Mr.  Coleman  found  it  necessary  to  do  what 
most  successful  men  have  done,  namely,  take  to  himself 
a  helpmeet  in  the  struggle  of  life,  and  accordingly  mar- 
ried in  the  fall  of  1875.  Mrs.  Coleman  has  been  a  crown- 
ing addition  to  Mr.  Coleman's  equipment,  which  has 
given  him  the  honorable  and  successful  career  that  has 
attended  him  since  his  marriage.  He  at  once  secured  a 
home  and  began  purchasing  lots  and  building  houses. 
This  he  has  continued  to  do  until  he  carries  on  his  reg- 
ular renting  list  over  one  hundred  houses.  This  fact 
speaks  for  itself,  and  affords  an  example  that  should  be  a 
constant  stimulus  and  encouragement  to  the  entire 
colored  race.  The  subject  of  our  sketch  has  extended 
his  substantial  acquisitions  to  a  much  wider  range.     He 


406  ONE    HUNDRED   YEARS    OF   THE 

has  purchased  and  owns  excellent  farms,  and  has 
equipped  them  with  stock  and  other  appurtenances  nec- 
essary to  progressive  agriculture. 

Mr.  Coleman  entered  the  field  to  which  he  is  specially 
adapted — merchandise.  In  this  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful. In  1885,  when  he  was  burned  out,  he  was  ac- 
knowledged to  be  among  the  foremost  dealers  and 
business  men  of  Concord.  In  this  fire  he  lost  outright 
seven  thousand  dollars.  He  had  not  one  cent  of  insur- 
ance, but  the  rapidity  and  permanent  success  with  which 
he  re-established  himself  in  the  same  business  places  him 
among  our  heroes. 

In  1 88 1  he  became  a  stockholder  in  the  North  Caro- 
lina Industrial  Association,  an  organization  for  stimulat- 
ing laudable  endeavors  among  the  colored  people  in 
North  Carolina  along  the  line  of  agriculture,  mechan- 
ical arts,  and  general  handicraft.  He  became  at  once  an 
active  member  of  the  association  and  a  large  and  varied 
contributor  to  its  annual  exhibits.  His  devotion  to  the 
good  of  the  association  continually  promoted  him  on  the 
roll  of  officers  to  fill  successively  the  office  of  vice  presi- 
dent, treasurer,  and  president.  Mr.  Coleman's  official 
connection  with  the  association  was  a  positive  gain  and 
constant  stimulus  to  the  organization.  His  interest  in 
education  has  been  no  less  marked  than  his  push  and 
zeal  along  other  lines.  He  has  always  demonstrated  a 
profound  interest  in  all  educational  endeavors,  in  school 
or  otherwise,  among  his  people.  As  part  proof  of  these 
assertions  the  following  is  noteworthy:  he  has  carried 
one  student  through  Howard  University,  one  through 
Livingstone  College,  is  supporting  and  helping  several 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       407 

students  at  Shaw  University,  the  Oxford  (North  Carolina) 
Orphans'  Home,  Livingstone  College,  Scotia  Seminary, 
and  other  schools.  His  contributions  to  the  educational 
uplifting  of  his  race  are  manifold  and  important.  Mr. 
Coleman  might  well  be  ranked  as  a  philanthropist.  He 
took  a  large  part  in  offering  inducements  for  Livingstone 
College  to  be  located  at  Concord,  N.  C,  when  it  was  or- 
ganized as  Zion  Wesley  Institute.  He  had  aided  Pro- 
fessor R.  M.  Alexander  in  the  development  of  the  Cole- 
man School  at  Welford,  S.  C,  which  is  now  in  success- 
ful operation.  Mr.  Coleman  has  always  contributed  gen- 
erously and  cheerfully  to  the  Church.  He  aided  in  build- 
ing the  Zion  Hill  Church  at  Concord,  N.  C,  and  is  now 
taking  a  leading  part  in  erecting  Price  Memorial  Temple 
at  that  place.  He  has  made  his  way  from  a  very  humble 
beginning  to  position  and  fortune.  Starting  out  inex- 
perienced and  poorly  informed,  to-day  his  experience  is 
by  no  means  limited  and  his  information  decidedly 
above  mediocrity.  Beginning  empty-handed,  to-day  he 
controls  tens  of  thousands  of  dollars'  worth  of  property. 
He  is  a  man  of  great  urbanity  and  hospitality,  sparing 
no  pains  or  reasonable  expense  to  make  his  home  a  joy 
to  his  family  and  his  house  a  home  to  his  friends. 

S.  G.  Atkins. 

REV.    JAMES    MONROE    HILL. 

This  popular  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Fayetteville  Dis- 
trict of  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference  was  born 
in  Carteret  County,  N.  C,  October  18,  1850.  He  began 
to  receive  instruction  in  Sabbath  school  when  he  was  about 

nine  years  old.     The  school  was  taught  by  a  white  lady. 
28 


4o8 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


Here  he  first  obtained  knowledge  of  the  universe  and 
its  Maker,  his  own  relation  thereto,  and  his  moral  re- 
sponsibility. The  impressions  made  upon  his  mind  in 
this  little  biblical  institute  were  lasting-  and  had  much 
to  do  with  the  shaping  of  his  course  of  life. 


REV.   J.    M.    HILL. 

About  the  same  period  he  entered  a  day  school  sup- 
ported by  the  Congregational  Church  and  conducted  by 
three  Northern  white  lady  teachers.  Here  he  first 
learned  something  of  the  advantage  of  an  education  and 
began  to  feel  a  thirst  for  knowledge. 

Brother  Hill  professed  religion  when  sixteen  years  old, 
and  joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      409 

under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  I.  B.  McLiece.  'He 
served  the  Church  in  the  capacity  of  class  leader,, 
preacher's  steward,  and  trustee  for  several  years  success- 
ively. He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Rev.  Sampson  Cop- 
per in  1 87 1.  Two  years  later  he  was  recommended  to 
the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference,  which  met  iu 
Wilmington,  November,  1873.  He  was  received,  or- 
dained a  deacon,  and  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the 
Swansboro  Circuit,  near  where  he  was  raised.  During 
two  years  in  this  charge  he  built  two  churches,  added 
largely  to  the  membership,  and  greatly  improved  the  cir- 
cuit in  every  respect. 

In  1875  he  was  sent  to  the  Mooresville  Circuit,  in  the 
Central  North  Carolina  Conference.  He  remained  on 
this  work  four  years,  built  three  churches,  and  ceiled  one 
that  had  been  previously  built.  During  his  stay  on  this 
circuit  he  made  it  one  of  the  best  in  the  Conference, 
both  spiritually  and  temporally. 

In  1877  he  entered  the  Chautauqua  reading  circle,  lo- 
cated at  Plainfield,  N.  J.,  from  which  he  received  some 
valuable  instruction. 

In  1879  he  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  Hood  and 
sent  to  Statesville.  During  his  three  years  in  this  charge 
he  paid  off  a  long-standing  debt  of  several  hundred  dol- 
lars, remodeled  the  church,  and  greatly  improved  it, 
both  spiritually  and  temporally.  In  fact,  by  his  good 
conduct  he  gave  the  church  a  standing  with  all  classes  it 
never  enjoyed  before.  The  best  white  people  in  the 
place  frequently  attended  his  services. 

In  1 88 1  he  was  sent  to  Concord.  The  Zion  Wesley 
Institute  had  just  then  been  moved  to  Salisbury,  and  the 


410  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Concord  people  were  mad  clear  through  about  it.  They 
were  mad  at  the  bishop  and  Conference  and  everybody 
connected  with  it.  The  bishop  knew  their  feelings  and 
the  danger  of  the  breaking  up  of  all  the  churches  in  the 
county,  and  Hill  was  selected  to  meet  the  emergency.  It 
was  the  bishop's  opinion  that  he  was  the  only  man  he 
then  had  to  whom  he  could  intrust  the  work.  He  met 
the  people,  and  they  poured  upon  him  their  pent-up 
wrath  against  the  bishop  and  Conference.  He  simply 
informed  them  that  he  was  not  at  all  responsible  for  the 
matter  of  which  they  complained,  except  to  the  extent 
that  any  one  individual  member  of  a  body9is  responsible 
for  the  acts  of  that  body ;  that  he  was  there,  by  appoint- 
ment, to  do  what  he  could  for  the  upbuilding  of  the 
church.  If  they  wanted  him  to  stay  and  do  the  best  he 
could  he  was  ready  to  go  to  work ;  if  not,  he  would  report 
to  the  bishop  that  they  were  not  willing  to  receive  him, 
and  would  get  work  elsewhere.  His  quiet  Christian  bear- 
ing melted  their  hardness  and  consumed  their  wrath.  His 
reputation  had  preceded  him,  and  they  perceived  in  him 
better  qualities  than  they  had  even  imagined,  and  hence 
were  unwilling  to  let  him  go.  He  stayed  four  years, 
paid  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  for  a  new  church  lot, 
built  a  parsonage  and  a  brick  church,  which  was  then 
the  finest  brick  church  in  the  Conference.  Here,  as  else- 
where, he  gave  the  church  a  standing  in  the  community  it 
never  enjoyed  before,  and  gained  for  himself  a  reputation 
very  much  higher  than  any  predecessor  or  successor 
ever  enjoyed.  In  his  honor  the  church  he  built  was 
called  the  Zion  Hill  Church. 

In  1885  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  appointed  him  to  Fayette- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      4II 

ville,  notwithstanding  a  unanimous  petition  for  his  re- 
turn to  Concord  for  the  fifth  year.  He  remained  in  Fay- 
etteville  three  years.  He  paid  off  along-standing  indebt- 
edness of  fifteen  hundred  dollars,  put  in  a  three-hundred- 
dollar  bell,  and  was  preparing  to  commence  a  new  church 
when,  in  1888,  Bishop  J.  J.  Moore  sent  him  to  Clinton 
Chapel,  Charlotte.  When  he  took  charge  of  this  church 
it  was  in  the  worst  condition  that  it  has  known  during  its 
entire  history ;  but  he  succeeded  in  gathering  the  scat- 
tered flock,  remodeling  the  church  (at  a  cost  of  three 
thousand  dollars),  putting  new  life  in  the  membership, 
and  restoring  to  the  congregation  much  of  its  lost  pres- 
tige. Considering  the  low  condition  of  the  church  when 
he  took  charge  of  it,  and  the  shortness  of  the  period  of 
his  administration,  this  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  his 
greatest  achievements.  In  1890  he  was  nominated  by 
Bishop  Moore  for  presiding  elder,  and  unanimously 
elected,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Fayetteville  District, 
of  which  he  still  has  charge,  and  is  one  of  the  most  pop- 
ular presiding  elders  in  the  connection. 

Bishop  Jones  appointed  him  to  the  office  of  Conference 
Steward,  which  he  held  during  the  two  years  that  he  was 
stationed  in  Charlotte,  during  which  period  the  Confer- 
ence made  the  best  report  of  any  years  in  its  history. 
(When  Bishop  Moore  appointed  him  presiding  elder  he 
made  the  mistake  of  relieving  him  of  his  stewardship, 
and  appointing  another  who  did  not  do  so  well.) 

Elder  Hill  has  been  elected  a  delegate  to  every  Gen- 
eral Conference  since,  and  including,  1880,  and  has  al- 
ways been  one  of  the  most  faithful  and  reliable  dele- 
gates— always  thoughtful  and  conservative,  and  always 


412  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

apparently  actuated  by  the  best  of  motives.  We  can  say 
for  Elder  Hill,  what  we  are  only  prepared  to  say  for  a 
very  few  who  have  been  any  length  of  time  in  the  minis- 
try, namely,  that  he  has  never  been  changed  on  his  own 
account  or  with  the  view  to  his  own  benefit.  Every  ap- 
pointment that  he  has  ever  received  has  been  given  him 
for  the  purpose  of  benefiting  the  church  or  churches  to 
which  he  was  appointed.  Not  a  charge  that  he  has  ever 
had  was  willing  to  give  him  up  at  the  time  he  left.  Any 
charge  he  has  ever  had  would  hail  his  return  with  de- 
light, and  we  fully  believe  that  he  would  be  to-day  the 
first  choice  of  any  charge  he  ever  held. 

REV.  ROBERT  STEPHEN  RIEVES,  D.D. 

Robert  Stephen  Rieves  was  born  near  Carthage,  in 
Moore  County,  N.  C,  June  16,  1848.  He  learned  the 
English  alphabet  in  a  few  minutes ;  when  only  six  years 
old  he  had  religious  impressions,  and  a  sense  of  his 
call  to  the  ministry  nearly  as  early.  The  twenty-third 
Psalm,  which  he  learned  at  a  very  early  age,  and  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  his  mind.  Notwithstanding  the  effort  to  keep 
colored  children  from  the  knowledge  of  books,  he  got  a 
few  lessons  in  Webster's  Speller.  At  about  his  tenth 
year  he  experienced  a  change  of  heart.  His  mistress, 
notwithstanding  she  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  discouraged  him  by  threats  from  owning  the 
name  of  Jesus.  The  dominant  race  of  that  period 
will  have  a  fearful  account  to  give.  They  encouraged 
in  their  slaves  the  enjoyment  of  whatever  amusements 
were  degrading,   but  nothing  that  was  elevating.     They 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      413 


were  permitted  to  go  to  low-down  dancing  parties, 
but  not  to  church.  Soon  after  the  surrender  he  made 
public  profession  of  his  faith,  joined  the  Church,  and 
became  at  once  a  very  active  member,  filling  all  the 
positions  of  a  layman.  He  was  married  in  1870,  and 
has  a  very  interesting  family.  He  joined  the  North 
Carolina  Conference  in  1874.  At  that  time  a  young  man 
had  to  prove  the  material  he  was  made  of  before  he  was 
given  important  work.  Rieves  had  to  work  his  way  up. 
His  first  appointment  was  two 
hundred  miles  from  his  home, 
and  he  received  only  $3 1  for 
his  year's  salary.  To  support 
his  wife  and  two  children  he 
had  to  teach  school.  He  has 
held  several  important  charges. 
At  Statesville  he  remodeled 
the  church  and  had  very  great 
spiritual  success.  He  had 
charge  of  Clinton  Chapel, 
Charlotte,  for  three  years, 
during  which  time  five  hundred  members  were  added 
to  the  Church.  Over  $3,000  was  raised  by  festivals 
during  his  pastorate.  He  was  made  presiding  elder, 
in  which  position  he  labored  successfully  for  about  ten 
years.  Through  all  these  years  in  the  ministry  he 
has  been  a  hard  student.  Before  he  entered  the  minis- 
try he  had  a  few  weeks'  schooling  in  the  common  schools, 
taught  by  a  colored  lady  who  had  received  but  little  train- 
ing herself.  In  1879,  while  stationed  at  Manchester, 
N.  C,  he  attended  the  State  Normal  School  at  Fayette- 


REV.  R.  S.  RIEVES,  D.D. 


414  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

ville  for  four  months.  He  studied  physics,  theology,  and 
Latin  under  private  instructors.  He  took  the  Chautau- 
qua Course,  and  has  his  diploma  from  that  institution. 
Rev.  Rieves  is  a  man  of  extraordinary  ability  and  of 
great  energy.  He  has  a  strong  Christian  character,  and 
is  a  natural  leader  of  mien.  He  is  modest,  quiet,  and  un- 
assuming, but  a  great  worker  in  Conference.  When  the 
Central  North  Carolina  Conference  was  set  off  he  went 
with  it,  where  he  continued  to  labor  for  thirteen  years. 
In  1892  he  was  transferred  to  the  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence and  appointed  to  the  pastoral  charge  at  Goldsboro. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  in  1880, 
1884,  1888,  and  1892.  He  was  also  a  delegate  to  the  Cen- 
tennial or  Christmas  Conference  of  all  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Churches  in  America,  which  was  held  at  Bal- 
timore in  1884.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of  two  joint 
commissions  on  organic  union.  Whatever  position  he 
occupies  he  is  a  credit  to  his  Church. 

REV.    ROBERT    RUSSELL    MORRIS,    D.D. 

Robert  Russell  Morris,  who  celebrated  his  fifty-sixth 
anniversary  May  27,  1893,  was  born  at  Halifax, 
N.  S.  His  parents  were  both  natives  of  the  above 
named  place,  and  were  among  the  first  in  establishing 
Zion  Church  in  the  peninsular  city  of  the  province  of 
Nova  Scotia.  Robert  embraced  religion  at  ten  years  of 
age,  during  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  Peter  Ross.  He  at- 
tended school  when  but  four  years  of  age,  where,  during 
his  early  years,  he  received  a  fair  education,  after  which 
he  was  sent  to  Gorham  College,  Liverpool,  N.  S.  At 
the    close    of   two   years   the    college   was  destroyed  by 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       415 


fire  and  never  rebuilt.  During  the  time  Brother  Morris 
was  at  college  he  felt  he  was  called  to  preach  the  Gospel ; 
for  a  time  he  strove  against  the  impression,  but  at  last  he 
was  compelled  to  yield  and  give  himself  to  the  Lord  to 
be  his  willing  and  obedient  servant      After  conversing 


REV.    R.    R.    MORRIS,    D.D. 

with  the  pastor,  Rev.  S.  M.  Giles,  he  applied  and  ob- 
tained local  preacher's  license.  Shortly  after  he  went 
with  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  who  is  now  a  bishop,  to  New 
York,  and  joined  the  Annual  Conference.  He  was  sent 
from  there  to  attend  the  New  England  Conference,  where 
he  was  elected  secretary.  At  the  close  of  the  Conference 
he  was  appointed  to  go  to  Nova  Scotia,  where  he  labored 


416  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

for  two  years  in  the  mission  field,  during  which  time  he 
was  successful  in  erecting  a  building  which  answered 
for  church  and  school  purposes  at  Mauroon  Hill,  fifteen 
miles  from  the  city.  He  also  attended  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  School,  studying  mental  and  moral  science, 
Church  history,  theology,  Greek.  Testament,  Hebrew, 
and  Syriac. 

At  the  expiration  of  two  years,  again  in  company  with 
Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson,  he  met  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence, which  convened  in  Newburg,  where  he  was  or- 
dained deacon,  and,  being  again  sent  to  the  New  England 
Conference,  where  he  served  as  chief  secretary,  he  took  an 
active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  sessions,  and  when 
the  appointments  were  announced  young  Morris  was  as- 
signed to  Nantucket,  the  smallest  and  poorest  appoint- 
ment in  the  district.  He,  however,  accepted  the  appoint- 
ment, took  his  young  wife  and  went  to  his  work  on  the 
island. 

The  minister  he  succeeded  gave  him  no  flattering 
account  of  his  charge,  so  that  Morris  was  somewhat  pre- 
pared for  whatever  would  confront  him;  therefore  he 
went,  not  trusting  in  collegiate  acquirement,  but  relying 
upon  Him  who  said,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world.     Amen." 

Upon  reaching  the  place  his  opposition  and  conflicts 
began,  yet  he  remained  at  his  post.  During  that  winter 
navigation  closed,  so  there  was  no  communication  to  or 
from  any  place  for  one  month ;  but  the  labors  of  the 
young  minister  were  blessed,  the  church  membership 
increased,  and  some  needed  repairs  made  upon  the 
church.     From  Nantucket  he  was  appointed  to  Worces- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      417 

ter,  Mass.,  to  follow  Rev.  J.  N.  Mars,  one  of  Zion's  stal- 
wart sons,  whose  popularity  and  labors  were  not  only- 
known  in  our  Church,  but  also  recognized  by  all  classes 
of  people  as  an  able,  successful  antislavery  lecturer. 
Brother  Morris  says  it  was  with  reluctance  and  timidity 
that  he  entered  upon  this  charge,  which  such  a  great  man 
had  filled.  Two  years  at  Worcester  endeared  the 
people  to  him,  both  of  the  whites  and  colored 
alike.  The  church  was  saved  from  being  sold,  the 
property  improved,  and  scores  added  to  the  society. 
Brother  Morris  was  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
which  met  in  New  York  in  1 860 ;  he  was  secretary  to  the 
Rush  party  to  confer  with  the  bishop's  party,  which  con- 
vened at  Philadelphia,  where  the  two  were  brought  to- 
gether and  became  one  connection.  Springfield  was  the 
next  appointment,  where  great  good  was  done. 

About  this  time  the  war  broke  out.  Brother  Morris 
thought  Africa  the  best  place  for  him.  As  he  was  pre- 
paring for  the  far-off  land  he  received  a  letter  from  his 
parents  begging  him  not  to  go  so  far  from  home.  In 
the  meantime  the  president  and  authorities  of  the  island 
of  Hayti  were  inviting  persons  of  all  classes  to  go  there. 
Rev.  (now  Bishop)  Holly,  rector  of  St.  Luke's  parish, 
New  Haven,  Conn.,  learning  of  Brother  Morris's  inten- 
tion of  going  to  Africa,  called  upon  him  and  had  him 
consent  to  go  to  Hayti.  Morris  wrote  Bishop  J.  J.  Clin- 
ton, who,  after  advising  him  to  remain  in  the  United 
States,  gave  his  consent  to  go,  praying  that  God  would  be 
with  him.  Brother  Morris  went,  but  the  climate  was 
against  his  health.  He  buried  his  wife,  an  excellent 
Christian  woman,  also  two  children.     The  next  year  he 


41 8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

returned  to  his  native  land,  to  find,  to  his  regret,  the  old 
church  not  supplied  by  Zion  ministers.  The  field  hav- 
ing opened  in  the  South  for  our  ministers  rendered  it  im- 
possible for  Zion  to  keep  up  the  work  in  Nova  Scotia. 

While  Brother  Morris  was  recuperating  his  health  he 
was  offered  and  accepted  the  principalship  of  the  city- 
public  school,  as  a  large  number  of  the  colored  people 
desired  separate  education.  The  church  being  without 
a  pastor  at  the  time,  he  was  requested  to  take  the  place, 
and  after  some  deliberation  he  gave  consent.  Not  many 
days  after  Right  Rev.  Willis  Nazary,  Bishop  of  the 
British  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  of  Chatham,  Canada, 
who  had  been  at  St.  John,  New  Bnmswick,  hearing  of  the 
condition  of  the  church  at  Halifax,  seized  the  opportu- 
nity of  visiting  it.  He  found  the  church  without  a 
pastor,  and  he,  being  the  Bishop  of  the  British  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  succeeded  in  advising  and  inducing 
the  members  and  congregation  to  go  under  his  jurisdic- 
tion. Subsequently  a  Conference  convened  at  Liver- 
pool, N.  S. 

Brother  Morris  was  sent  to  St.  John,  N.  B.,  where  he 
was  successful  in  raising  the  school  building  twenty  feet 
and  made  the  lower  part  a  commodious  room  for  divine 
services.  This  place  is  in  use  now,  and  is  known  by  the 
name  of  St.  Philip's  Church.  Before  going  to  St.  John 
he  married  his  present  estimable  and  talented  wife. 
From  St.  John  he  went  to  Bermuda,  where,  with  the  aid 
of  his  partner,  he  established  the  first  colored  church  on 
the  island.  One  thousand  and  fifty  persons  became 
members  and  followers  in  less  than  two  years.  Seven 
years'  stay  on  the  island  was  the  means  of  doing  good ; 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       419 

the  result  will  only  be  known  in  eternity.  Brother  Mor- 
ris was  made  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Church 
work  at  Bermuda,  and  performed  all  the  duties  of  a 
bishop  except  ordaining.  He  held  three  Annual  Con- 
ferences. While  there  Rev.  G.  H.  S.  Bell,  the  Confer- 
ence Steward  of  the  New  England  Annual  Conference, 
was  one  of  the  members  who  joined  under  his  adminis- 
tration. 

After  seven  years  spent  in  Bermuda  he  went  to  St. 
Catharines,  Ontario,  where  he  filled  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  influential  churches  in  Canada.  From  there  he 
went  to  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  Bishop  Moore  being  the 
bishop  over  that  Conference,  and  was  successful  in  re- 
pairing the  parsonage  and  made  a  host  of  friends,  both 
in  and  out  of  the  Church.  He  then  went  to  Hartford, 
staying  five  years,  doing  noble  service  and  gaining  many 
friends. 

Brother  Morris  was  Bishop  Moore's  special  correspond- 
ent during  the  bishop's  visit  in  England.  He  was  dele- 
gate to  the  General  Conference  in  New  York  in  1884, 
and  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  meet  a 
similar  commission  of  the  Bethel  Church,  which  met 
in  Washington  City  to  consider  the  basis  for  organic 
union.  He  was  then  transferred  to  the  North  Carolina 
Conference,  and  remained  until  appointed  by  the  Board 
of  Bishops  General  Superintendent  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Sunday  Schools  and  editor  of  the 
Sunday  school  literature.  In  addition  Brother  Morris 
was  pastor  of  the  Old  Ship  three  years,  and  served  two 
3*ears  as  presiding  elder  over  the  Montgomery  District  ot 
the  satisfaction  of  the  Church. 


420  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

REV.    R.    HAYWOOD    STITT,    B.D. 

R.  Haywood  Stitt,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born 
of  slave  parents  in  Mecklenburg  County,  State  of  North 
Carolina,  fourteen  miles  from  the  city  of  Charlotte,  Janu- 
ary 22 ,  1 86 1 .  His  parents  dying  when  he  was  quite  young, 
he  was  left  alone  to  grapple  with  the  stern  realities  of  life. 
His  father  and  mother  being  Presbyterians,  he  received 
his  first  religious  impression  in  that  Church,  but  was  con- 
verted at  a  Methodist  protracted  meeting  in  1882,  at 
China  Grove  Church,  near  Charlotte,  whither  he  had  gone 
to  make  sport. 

He  entered  Livingstone  College  the  same  year,  and 
was  licensed  as  a  local  preacher  in  the  following  year 
(1883)  at  Pineville,  N.  C,  by  Rev.  J.  A.  Tyler,  D.D. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  Central  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence, which  convened  at  Monroe,  N.  C,  in  1884.  He 
was  ordained  deacon  in  1886  at  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  and 
elder  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  in  1888,  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood. 

He  graduated  from  the  theological  department  of 
Livingstone  College  in  May,  1888,  and  on  the  evening 
of  his  graduation  was  married  by  Dr.  Price,  assisted  by 
Professor  Goler,  to  Miss  Alice  M.  Ury,  of  Concord,  N.C.,  a 
graduate  of  Scotia  Seminary.  During  his  term  in  school 
he  pastored  several  country  charges,  and  was  sent  to 
Charlotte,  N.  C,  after  the  formation  of  Grace  Church. 
Here  he  was  successful  in  securing  a  plot  of  ground,  and 
built  Grace  Church,  but  was  not  permitted  to  finish  it. 
Within  two  weeks  of  its  dedication  he  was  transferred  to 
the   New  York  Conference,  and  stationed  at  Newbura;. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       42 1 

Here  he  remained  two  years,  paid  off  the  mortgage  (that 
was  old  as  himself),  together  with  other  incidental  ex- 


REV.   R.    H.    STITT,    B.D. 


penses,  repaired  the  church,  increased  the  membership, 
and  improved  the  work  in  general.     He  was  then  re- 


422  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OE   THE 

moved  against  the  wishes  of  the  people,  both  white  and 
black,  to  Williamsburg,  where  he  had  good  success  re- 
pairing the  church,  paying  incidental  expenses,  and  rais- 
ing the  interest  on  the  great  debt  that  burdens  this  church. 
Serving  one  year  at  Williamsburg,  he  was  then  sent  to 
Fleet  Street,  Brooklyn.  Here  his  success  has  been  phe- 
nomenal. Three  gracious  revivals  have  attended  his 
efforts,  increasing  the  membership  not  only  of  his  own 
church,  but  also  of  the  Baptist,  Presbyterian,  and  other 
churches  of  the  city.  The  financial  state  of  the  church  is 
better  than  ever  before.  Crowds  are  turned  away  from 
the  doors  every  Sunday  evening  for  want  of  room.  In 
fact,  Fleet  Street  stands  to-day  the  most  popular  colored 
church  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn. 

On  going  to  Brooklyn  he  saw  that  one  of  the  needs  of 
the  place  was  to  get  the  young  people  interested  in  the 
work  of  the  church ;  hence  he  organized  the  Progressive 
Literary,  which  has  become  a  flourishing  institution  com- 
posed of  some  of  the  best  talent  of  the  City  of  Churches. 
The  Sons  and  Daughters  of  Zion,  organized  next,  took  in 
and  held  a  large  number  of  the  converts  of  the  first  year's 
revival. 

In  1893  he  organized  a  young  people's  society  of  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  with  eighty-five  members,  which  is  doing 
a  good  work  both  in  the  church  and  community.  He  rep- 
resented his  Church  in  the  International  Convention  of 
Christian  Endeavor  Societies  at  Montreal,  Canada,  in 
1893,  serving  on  an  important  committee  which  issued  a 
circular  to  the  Methodism  of  the  world.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  General  Conference  of  1892,  which  met  at  Pitts- 
burg,   Pa.       He   has  served  as  secretary    of   the    New 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      423 

York  Conference  since  1889;  and  is  also  Superintendent 
of  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  New  York  Conference 
District. 

Brother  Stitt  is  a  sound  gospel  preacher,  his  sermons 
showing  depth  of  thought  and  careful  preparation.  Calm 
and  deliberative  at  the  outset,  he  sweeps  along  until  the 
climax  is  reached,  carrying  his  audiences  with  him  and 
holding  them  spellbound  by  his  eloquence.  Kind  of 
heart,  ready  to  give  his  support  to  every  good  word  and 
work,  a  man  of  the  people,  he  stands  to-day  one  of  the 
most  popular  pastors  in  the  City  of  Churches. 

WEST    ALABAMA    CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  P.  Thomp- 
son, December  14,  1881.  It  includes  that  portion  of  the 
State  lying  west  of  the  Alabama  River.  It  numbered 
at  its  organization  114  preachers  and  17,144  members. 
Many  of  the  men  who  now  compose  the  Conference  are 
among  our  stronger  men.  Among  them  we  may  men- 
tion Revs.  William  Spencer,  A.  J.  Warner,  J.  S.  San- 
ders, F.  A.  Clinton,  E.  Hunter,  and  S.  Sherman.  One 
of  the  most  successful  builders  in  this  Conference,  Rev. 
J.  M.  Butler,  has  recently  passed  away.  The  success  the 
Conference  enjoyed  was  largely  due  to  his  faithful  effort. 

The  Jones  University  is  located  in  this  Conference.  It 
bids  fair  to  become  a  great  seat  of  learning.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  roll  of  the  West  Alabama  Conference,  De- 
cember 10,  1890: 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  C.  C.  Pettey,  A.M. 

Secretary,  Rev.  J.  C.  Lodge. 

Assistant  Secretary,  Rev.  P.  R.  Pittman. 
29 


424  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Compiler,  Rev.  F.  A.  Clinton. 

Reporter  to  the  "  Star  of  Zion,"  Rev.  H.  R.  Gaines. 

Conference  Steward,  Rev.  E.  Hunter. 

Sunday  School  Superintendent,  Rev.  H.  W.  Goode. 

V.  P.  W.  H.  F.  M.  Society,  Mrs.  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey. 

President  S.  and  D.  of  Conference,  Mrs.  M.  C.  Johnson. 

Secretary  S.  and  D.  of  Conference,  Mrs.  C.  A.  Bridges. 

Treasurer  S.  and  D.  of  Conference,  Mrs.  W.  P.  Scott. 

Presiding  Elders,  Revs.  J.  M.  Butler,  William  Spencer, 
F.  A.  Clinton,  E.  Hunter,  J.  C.  Saunders. 

Elders,  William  Spencer,  J.  C.  Lee,  J.  A.  Lewis,  P. 
Washington,  G.  W.  Gains,  W.  J.  Caver,  I.  Fluellen,  Z. 
H.  Booker,  H.  C.  Banks,  H.  Hamner,  E.  R.  Rose,  Rob- 
ert Steele,  A.  J.  Warner,  William  A.  Murphy,  J.  Bryant, 
Samuel  Sherman,  S.  P.  Collins,  George  Golightly,  Virgil 
Burks,  S.  M.  Gains,  A.  G.  Alstork,  N.  Mason,  M.  Rosser, 
S.  C.  Gratten,  I.  S.  Ruffin,  George  Bolden,  M.  W.  By- 
num,  J.  T.  Melton,  H.  J.  Starks,  E.  D.  Taylor,  Sr.  ;  H. 
C.  Smith,  J.  C.  Lodge,  P.  R.  Pittman,  Allen  Lewis,  C. 
A.  White,  M.  L.  Blalock,  J.  G.  Lewis,  J.  C.  Saunders,  H. 
Washington,  J.  W.  Henderson,  M.  Rosser,  M.  Monzingo, 
M.  C.  Crawford. 

Deacons,  Revs.  Isaac  Goodwin,  George  W.  May,  CO. 
Wilkerson,  M.  S.  Cost,  J.  H.  Hall,  John  O.  Donalds, 
Jacob  Miller,  J.  H.  Alexander,  J.  F.  Seymore,  O.  Levett, 
Price  Chaney,  Stephen  Hurst,  Sr.  ;  Albert  Lynch,  E.  D. 
Taylor,  Jr. ;  J.  L.  Jackson,  Charles  Green,  Henry  Albrit- 
ten,  B.  Clark,  L.  H.  Hurst,  James  Bernard,  F.  L.  Fulken, 
George  Lynch,  Emanuel  Bryant,  J.  S.  Simmons,  Willis 
Wilson,  Richard  Long,  J.  R.  Beckham,  J.  R.  Gaines,  J. 
E.  Lucas,  Loveless  Bryant. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       425 

Preachers  in  Full  Connection,  P.  S.  Lucas,  Henry  Owens, 
C.  A.  Cook,  Luke  Fulker. 

Preachers  on  Trial,  J.  W.  Hooper,  S.  Fluellen,  B.  G. 
Sanders,  J.  B.  Evans,  R.  H.  Hurst,  M.  C.  Graham,  James 
Hall,  A.  Nobles,  J.  H.  Horton,  C.  O.  Wilkerson,  N.  R. 
Rodes,  A.  J.  Sanders,  Samuel  Johnson,  J.  K.  Jackson,  J. 
G.  Alexander,  A.  H.  Hommer,  P.  C.  Wilcox,  George 
May,  T.  J.  Sykes,  R.  H.  Brown,  C.  J.  Johnson,  Z.  W. 
Williams,  William  Chaney,  H.  A.  Barkley,  A.  A.  Mc- 
Commack,  W.  D.  Davis,  W.  H.  Turner,  G.  W.  Johnson, 
J.  A.  Walls,  W.  M.  Gilmore,  J.  H.  Sylvester,  W.  E.  Buz- 
elton,  J.  T.  Hampton,  W.  M.  Banks,  T.  H.  Jones,  J.  H. 
Bell,  J.  H.  Tobin. 

Superannuated  Ministers,  John  Bryant,  Thomas  Wind- 
fiel,  Virgil  Burks,  Stephen  Hunt. 

REV.    FRANKLIN   A.    CLINTON,    D.D. 

Franklin  A.  Clinton  is  one  of  the  most  affable,  influ- 
ential, and  brilliant  young  men  in  Zion.  He  is  big- 
brained  and  big-hearted,  and  is  a  natural  leader  of  men. 
Whether  in  the  kingdom  of  Clintons  in  South  Carolina 
or  in  the  Conferences  of  Alabama,  Franklin  A.  Clinton 
is  a  commanding  leader,  and  men  follow  the  shibboleth 
of  his  magnetic  voice  like  the  tides  of  ocean  that  flow 
after  the  moving  queen  of  night.  As  an  able  scholar, 
logical  theologian,  brilliant  writer,  and  eloquent  orator 
young  Clinton  is  a  representative  Afro-American.  He 
is  full  of  love  and  personal  magnetism,  and  hence  has 
many  personal  friends.  His  presence  is  sunshine  and  his 
path  beams  with  light  diffusing  from  a  summer-like 
nature.     Franklin  A.  Clinton  is  a  son  of  a  mother.     With 


426 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


head  pillowed  upon  the  breast  of  an  affectionate  and  in- 
telligent mother  close  by  the  glittering  fireside  of  an 
embellished  and  refined  home,  Franklin  A.  Clinton  was 
taught  the  principles  and  moral  elements  of  God's  ad- 


REV.    F.   A.   CLINTON,    D.D. 

mired  manhood.  It  is  said  that  she  died  in  1881.  She 
is  not  dead !  She  lives  in  the  exemplary  lives  of  her  noble 
sons  and  darling  daughters,  and  in  the  hearts  of  all  that 
ever  heard  her  motherly  advice  and  caught  her  winsome 
smile.      Mother!   Home!   Heaven!     Clinton  is  tall  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      427 

graceful.  He  was  born  near  Lancaster  Court  House, 
S.  C,  in  i860,  and  is  the  son  of  that  eminent  divine  and 
distinguished  leader,  Bishop  I.  C.  Clinton. 

Franklin  A.  Clinton  attended  the  public  schools  of  his 
neighborhood  and  completed  his  education  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  South  Carolina.  He  likes  the  higher  mathemat- 
ics, belles-lettres  attract  his  admiration,  and  he  is  a  close 
observer  of  current  history.  Bishop  Pettey  says  that  Clin- 
ton is  one  of  the  best-informed  men  in  this  country.  He 
is  broad  and  liberal  in  his  views,  which  are  highly  valued, 
whether  in  an  Annual  or  General  Conference.  States- 
men have  sought  his  advice  and  association  in  statecraft. 
He  is  regarded  where  known  as  a  well-balanced,  full- 
rounded  man.  He  has  preached  and  lectured  in  some  of 
the  largest  churches  in  America.  He  attracted  great  at- 
tention on  the  Pacific  coast  when  he  held  Conferences  in 
California  and  Oregon  for  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey,  A.M., 
D.D.  In  1887  he  preached  the  Thanksgiving  Sermon 
for  the  Tuskegee  Normal  School,  presided  over  by  Pro- 
fessor Booker  T.  Washington.  He  also  delivered  a 
powerful  and  magnificent  address  to  the  graduating 
class  at  Emmerson  Institute,  Mobile,  Ala.  Clinton  did 
not  reach  his  present  height  in  paths  of  roses  and 
flowers.  His  father  educated  him  and  then  rightly 
thrust  him  in  the  arms  of  a  cold  world,  so  that  the  son, 
like  father,  might  gain  experience,  breast  storms,  and  de- 
velop confidence,  independence,  and  self-reliance.  After 
returning  from  college  he  was  engfasred  as  instructor  in 
the  Pettey  High  School,  and  afterward  taught  school 
in  Yorkville,  S.  C.  While  in  Yorkville  in  1883  he  was 
converted    and     united     with    the    African     Methodist 


428  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  at  once  began  active  Chris- 
tian work ;  six  months  later  he  was  granted  license  as  a 
preacher  by  Presiding  Elder  D.  I.  Walker,  of  the  York- 
ville  District.  In  November  of  the  same  year  he  joined 
the  traveling  connection  of  the  South  Carolina  Conference, 
under  Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D.,  and  was  stationed  as 
pastor  of  the  Rehoboth  Circuit.  During  his  pastorate  of 
this  charge  he  was  very  successful,  both  in  the  temporal 
and  spiritual  work  of  the  church.  Some  of  the  oldest  men 
of  the  community  were  happily  converted,  turned  from 
lives  of  wickedness,  and  added  to  the  church.  He  recalls 
a  striking  incident  of  an  old  man  seventy  years  of  age, 
who  had  been  for  many  years  a  confirmed  drunkard,  but 
having  come  to  the  church  out  of  curiosity  he  became  so 
deeply  impressed  while  the  eloquent  Clinton  was  preaching 
that  he  repented  of  his  sins,  was  happily  converted,  and 
became  a  faithful  and  consistent  member  of  the  church. 

Clinton  was  then  stationed  at  Steele  Hill,  where  he 
built  a  parsonage  and  added  to  the  church  many  im- 
provements. At  this  point  he  conducted  a  large  revival. 
The  members  of  this  church  unanimously  petitioned  for 
his  return,  but  he  was  transferred  to  the  West  Alabama 
Conference  and  stationed  at  Tuscaloosa,  where  he  served 
with  great  credit  one  of  the  finest  and  most  cultured 
churches  in  the  South.  While  pastor  here  he  liquidated 
a  heavy  mortgage  debt  and  conducted  a  large  revival, 
adding  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  souls  to  the  church. 
Cultured  Tuscaloosa  unanimously  requested  his  return 
for  the  third  year,  but  the  bishop  decided  to  send  him 
to  take  charge  of  the  church  at  Birmingham,  Ala., 
which  was  in  a  critical  condition   at  that  time.       The 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     429 

property  was  in  litigation,  and  the  spiritual  condition  of 
the  church  was  low,  but  he  soon  mastered  the  situation. 
He  was  reappointed  for  the  second  year,  but  owing  to 
some  trouble  in  State  Street  Church,  Mobile,  he  was 
removed  from  Birmingham  and  sent  to  that  charge  to 
adjust  affairs,  but  found  the  church  in  such  a  state  of 
confusion  that  he  accepted  a  call  from  Bishop  S.  T. 
Jones,  D.D.,  to  take  charge  of  the  church  at  Pensacola, 
Fla.  At  this  point  the  usual  success  crowned  his  efforts 
until  his  health  failed  and  he  was  advised  by  his  physican 
to  return  to  Alabama.  He  was  then  elected  as  one  of 
the  presiding  elders  and  assigned  to  the  Mobile  District. 
Under  his  administration  this  district  became  the  banner 
general  fund  district  of  the  Conference.  He  is  now  Pre- 
siding Elder  of  the  Selma  District  in  the  West  Alabama 
Conference.  He  is  loved  by  his  associates  and  ministers. 
He  is  popular  and  grows  stronger  and  stronger. 

In  the  General  Conferences  of  1888  and  1892  he  was  a 
leading  spirit.  He  will  shine  in  any  great  body  because 
he  is  full  of  wit,  wisdom,  and  eloquence.  He  is  the  logi- 
cal secretary  of  the  Conferences  which  he  meets.  He 
is  a  close  theological  student  and  preaches  with  power, 
grace,  and  beauty.  As  a  writer  he  has  furnished  some  in- 
teresting and  timely  contributions  to  his  own  Church  and 
many  secular  papers.  His  clear  and  orotund  voice  has 
often  won  victories  in  great  debates  and  oratorical  con- 
tests of  lion-like  men.  David  Williams  Parker. 

rev.  p.  j.  Mcintosh,  d.d. 

P.  J.  Mcintosh  was  born  in  Palmyra,  Ga.,  August  15, 
1854.     He    graduated    with  distinction    from    the    theo- 


430  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

logical  department  of  Talladega  College,  June  10,  1880. 
He  is  one  of  the  most  profound  scholars  of  the  race,  and 
is  a  thoughtful,  polished,  and  eloquent  pulpit  orator. 
After  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  he  attended  the 
free  public  schools  of  Palmyra.  Then  he  taught  school 
until  he  entered  Talladega  College.  While  attending 
college  he  did  mission  work.  He  combined  theory  with 
practical  work.  This  was  important,  because  it  made 
him  a  student  in  the  great  university  of  experience. 
While  attending  Talladega  College  he  built  a  parsonage 
at  Anniston  and  established  a  nourishing  church.  Im- 
mediately after  his  graduation  he  founded  Mcintosh 
Institute  at  Anniston,  Ala.,  as  an  auxiliary  to  Talladega 
College.  He  remained  principal  of  said  institute  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  served  with  marked  ability.  To  a  great 
degree  it  is  true  that  when  one  graduates  at  college  he 
has  but  the  alphabet  of  knowledge.  He  is  just  prepared 
to  study,  read,  and  learn.  Even  now  Dr.  Mcintosh  is 
a  diligent  student  and  close  observer.  Dr.  Mcintosh 
was  ordained  eight  days  after  his  graduation  to  the  holy 
orders  of  an  elder.  At  Lawsonville,  Ala.,  and  at  Howel's 
Cove,  Ala.,  he  served  faithfully  as  pastor  and  teacher  of 
the  public  school.  He  was  stationed  at  Tuskegee,  Ala., 
as  pastor  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
for  four  successive  years.  Here  he  built  a  fine  church 
in  the  city,  and  one  twelve  miles  from  Tuskegee.  In 
1887  he  was  appointed  to  Zion  Church  in  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  where  he  succeeded  grandly,  and  attracted  hun- 
dreds of  people  wherever  he  preached  by  the  force  of 
his  arguments  and  magnetic  eloquence.  He  was  sent  to 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  on  Stockton 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.      43 1 

Street  in  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  November,  1888.  Said 
church  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  popular  colored 
churches  on  the  Pacific  coast.  It  is  the  pride  of  San 
Francisco  and  the  glory  of  the  Zion  Connection  in  the 
West. 

Dr.  Mcintosh  stormed  the  wild  Pacific.     He  served  in 


REV.    P.   J.    McINTOSH,    D.D. 

the  twofold  capacity  of  pastor  and  presiding  elder  over 
the  Pacific  coast  work  for  two  years.  At  the  Conference 
held  in  September,  1890,  he  respectfully  declined  a 
unanimous  reelection  to  the  presiding  eldership.  In  two 
years  he  raised  for  the  church  at  San  Francisco  the  sum 
of  five  thousand  dollars.     He  is  an  all-around  man  and 


432  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

easily  succeeds  as  a  financier.  He  has  tact  and  judg- 
ment, and  is  master  of  all  the  intricacies  of  human 
nature.  The  Prohibition  Party  in  California  nominated 
him  as  a  candidate  for  the  Assembly,  and  though  he  made 
no  personal  canvass  he  received  a  magnificent  vote,  which 
was  largely  white.  On  Tuesday,  December  9,  1890,  by 
the  invitation  of  County  Committeeman  Hon.  W.  W. 
Palley,  a  delegation  of  leading  gentlemen  of  color  assem- 
bled in  the  grand  court  of  the  Palace  Hotel  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  Dr.  Mcintosh  was  unanimously  chosen 
spokesman  for  the  occasion  to  deliver  an  address  of  wel- 
come to  his  Royal  Majesty  King  Kalakaua,  King  of  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  His  address  of  welcome  sparkled 
with  gemlike  thoughts  and  jewels  of  eloquence.  On 
December  22,  1890,  he  with  other  invited  guests,  at- 
tended the  king's  funeral  at  Trinity  Church.  On  the 
14th  of  December,  1890,  at  a  grand  rally  he  collected 
$1,050  for  the  San  Francisco  Church.  The  last 
Sabbath  in  December,  1890,  he  presented  the  church 
in  gold  and  silver  the  sum  of  $2,000  in  clear  profit  from 
a  fair. 

In  December,  1891,  he  was  transferred  by  Bishop 
C.  C.  Pettey  to  the  West  Alabama  Conference,  and 
was  stationed  at  Tuscaloosa,  where  he  did  special 
work  for  Jones  University,  and  greatly  improved 
and  benefited  the  church  at  said  point.  Bishop  Pettey 
sent  him  to  State  Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  at  Mobile,  December,  1892,  and  he  has 
made  it  one  of  the  most  popular  and  high-toned  churches 
in  America.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference which  met  in  Washington,  D.  C,  in  the  year  1891. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      433 

At  the  General  Conference  in  Pittsburg  he  was  chosen 
Secretary  of  Education  for  the  Sixth  Episcopal  District, 
and  fraternal  delegate  to  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal General  Conference,  then  in  session  at  Philadelphia. 
Dr.  Mcintosh  has  been  a  member  of  every  General  Con- 
ference since  he  was  made  an  elder.  He  is  well  and 
favorably  known  throughout  the  Zion  Connection. 

David  Williams  Parker. 

ARKANSAS  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones, 
D.D.,  in  March,  1882.  This  is  the  first  offspring  from 
the  Kentucky  Conference.  The  work  was  started  by 
men  from  the  Kentucky  Conference,  especially  Zamoth 
Carr,  A.  J.  Warner,  and  J.  M.  Washington. 

In  more  recent  years  the  work  has  enjoyed  the  suc- 
cessful labors  of  Revs.  A.  Goslen  and  H.  Bingham,  from 
North  Carolina.  The  following  is  the  roll  of  members 
of  the  Arkansas  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church : 

Presiding  Bishop,  Right  Rev.  A.  Walters,  D.D. 

Conference  Steward,  Rev.  A.  F.  Goslen. 

Minute  Fund  Treasurer,  Rev.  A.  J.  Coleman. 

Secretary,  Rev.  W.  A.  Black  well. 

Statistical  Secretary,  Rev.  D.  W.  Poe. 

Assistant  Secretary,  Rev.  J.  C.  Williams. 

Compiler,  Rev.  S.  L.  Corrothers. 

Elders,  Revs.  A.  Arnold,  P.  L.  Boyd,  R.  J.  Simmes, 
H.  E.  Evans,  J.  H.  Harden,  H.  C.  Mooney,  R.  B. 
Macon,  W.  M.  Craig,  J.  G.  Ray,  J.  H.  Smith,  W.  S. 
Conley,  W.   J.    Brooks,  W.   M.    Matthews,    F.   L  King, 


434 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


H.  C.  Jones,  S.  M.  Bess,  G.  W.  Morris,  R.  S.  Babbitt, 
G.  G.  W.  Taylor,  J.  T.  F.  Hemphill,  E.  M.  Martin,  R. 
Moorman,  W.  S.  Smith,  W.  M.  Reed,  M.  J.  Harrison, 
H.  H.  Huggins,  George  Graham,  M.  Meacham. 

REV.  S.  L.  CORROTHERS. 

S.  L.  Corrothers  was  born  at  Yorkville,  S.  C.,  Decem- 
ber 3,  1864.       He  was  converted  August  17,  1886.     On 


REV.    S.    L.    CORROTHERS. 


October  17,  1886,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Elder  D. 
I.  Walker ;  joined  the  South  Carolina  Conference  Novem- 
ber 27,  1888;' was  ordained  deacon  December  3,  1889. 
He  served  one  year  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference  on 
the  Newberry  Mission,  had  sixty-four  conversions,  built 
one  church,  and  organized  one  mission  with  a  good  mem- 
bership.    In    1890   he  was  transferred  to  the  Arkansas 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      435 

Conference  and  assigned  to  St.  Paul  Station,  Little  Rock, 
Ark.,  by  Bishop  Harris.  Here  lie  found  the  church 
$1,005  in  debt,  which  has  been  paid ;  the  membership  has 
increased  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  forty.  The 
church  and  parsonage  have  been  improved  at  a  cost  of 
$764,  and  the  general  fund  has  been  raised  from  $18  to 
$70.50.     He  is  a  most  promising  young  man. 

TEXAS    CONFERENCE. 

Although  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 
was  founded  away  back  in  the  dim  vista  of  an  almost 
oriental  age,  and,  in  fact,  comes  very  near  colonial 
times,  a  work  which  remained  to  be  done  by  the  resolute 
had  long  been  neglected,  and  that  the  organization  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Connection  in 
Texas.  It  remained  for  Bishop  Lomax  to  explore  those 
untrodden  solitudes  and  gather,  if  possible,  those  rich 
fruits  which  had  for  so  long  ripened  to  an  abundant  har- 
vest where  only  the  footprints  of  other  denominations 
had  trodden.  When  we  consider  the  ease  and  facility 
characteristic  of  the  Church  in  the  North,  East,  and  Atlan- 
tic coast  it  required  almost  the  courage  of  a  Columbus  to 
make  a  voyage  to  Texas,  mindful  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
not  only  a  cattle  State,  but  a  territory  which  has  for 
years  been  the  haven  of  all  the  isms  save  that  of  our  be- 
loved cognomen. 

The  Texas  Conference  was  organized  in  November, 
1883,  by  Right  Rev.  Bishop  Thomas  H.  Lomax,  D.D., 
at  Stoneham.  Elders  present,  J.  D.  Mead,  W.  W. 
Kanna,  and  Barnabas  Calaway  officiating.  The  deacons 
that  were  ordained  in  that  year  were  G.  R.  Washington, 


436  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

S.  Miller,  Z.  McKindrick,  and  Isaac  Hambright.  Preach- 
ers received  were  E.  Carter,  Henry  Johnson,  and  G.  J. 
Johnson. 

In  November,  1884,  Conference  convened  at  Bobbin, 
Bishop  Thomas  H.  Lomax  presiding.  Elders  present, 
J.  D.  Mead,  W.  W.  Kanna;  deacons,  G.  R.  Washington, 
S.  Miller,  Z.  McKindrick;  ordained  to  deacons,  E.  Car- 
ter, G.  J.  Johnson,  and  Henry  Johnson. 

In  November,  1885,  the  Conference  convened  at  Nav- 
asota,  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson,  D.D.,  M.D.,  presiding. 
Elders  were  W.  W.  Kanna,  V.  Vincent ;  deacons,  G.  R. 
Washington,  Z.  McKindrick,  I.  Hambright,  S.  Miller,  G. 
J.  Johnson,  E.  Carter,  Henry  Johnson. 

In  1886,  through  some  misunderstanding,  there  was 
no  Conference  held,  owing  to  Bishop  Thompson's  feeble- 
ness. 

In  1887,  for  the  above  cause,  there  was  held  no  Con- 
ference. In  consequence  of  there  being  held  no  Confer- 
ences these  last  two  years  the  work  went  down,  and 
when  Bishop  Pettey  was  elected  in  1888,  and  assigned  to 
the  Sixth  Episcopal  District,*  he  found  in  the  State  of 
Texas  only  one  organization  and  thirteen  members,  at 
Stoneham.  The  indifference  and  gloomy  appearances  of 
prospects,  if  indeed  there  were  any,  suddenly  loomed  up 
before  him  as  a  mockery.  The  work  at  this  stage  re- 
quired a  risk  of  life,  health,  and  the  sacrifice  of  finance. 
It  was  only  four  weeks  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in 
the  State  until  the  convening  of  the  Conference.  There 
was  not  a  minister  at  his  post.     The  sacrament  of  the 

*  He  postponed  the  Conferences  from  the  fall  of  1888  until  February, 
1880. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      437 

Lord's  Supper  had  not  been  administered  in  fourteen 
months.  The  four  remaining-  preachers  who  had  not 
left  Zion's  fold  were  engaged  on  cotton  farms  and 
ranches.  The  members,  becoming  disheartened,  lost  all 
connectional  interests  and  sought  protection  in  more  in- 
viting churches.  The  bishop  at  once  took  in  the  situa- 
tion, and  with  courage  bold  commenced  a  tour  through 
the  State.  Securing  the  services  of  the  distinguished 
Rev.  F.  A.  Clinton,  they  traveled,  preached,  lectured,  and 
organized  churches  for  a  month.  The  second  Wednesday 
in  February,  1889,  found  Bishop  Pettey  holding  Con- 
ference in  Stoneham.  Only  one  elder  responded  to 
the  roll  call,  and  that  was  W.  W.  Kanna  (F.  A.  Clinton 
being  present).  Elders  ordained  at  Conference,  G.  R. 
Washington,  S.  Miller,  and  Isaac  Hambright.  Deacons, 
G.  J.  Johnson,  Henry  Johnson,  E.  Carter,  Z.  McKin- 
drick,  and  T.  R.  Gaines.  Conference  adjourned  to  meet 
the  third  Wednesday  in  October,  1889,  at  Hearne. 

Apropos  to  date  Conference  met  in  October,  1889 
(third  Wednesday),  at  Hearne,  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey  pre- 
siding. Elders  present  responding  to  roll  call,  H.  C. 
Philips,  who  had  been  transferred  to  the  Texas  Confer- 
ence from  North  Carolina,  W.  W.  Kenna,  G.  R.  Wash- 
ington, S.  Miller,  Isaac  Hambright.  Deacons,  Z.  Mc- 
Kindrick,  E.  Carter,  G.  J.  Johnson,  Henry  Johnson,  T. 
R.  Gaines;  and  M.  S.  Jordan,  who  had  been  transferred 
from  Alabama,  was  ordained  to  elder's  orders  and  suc- 
ceeded Philips  as  presiding  elder,  Philips  being  trans- 
ferred back  to  North  Carolina. 

In  1890  Conference  convened  at  Stoneham,  third 
Wednesday  in  October.     Elders  present,  M.  S.  Jordan, 


438  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

G.  Z.  Washington,  S.  Miller,  and  W.  W.  Kanna.  Dea- 
cons, G.  J.  Johnson,  Henry  Johnson,  B.  McKindrick, 
and  E.  Carter. 

In  1 89 1  Conference  convened  at  Navasota,  third  Wed- 
nesday in  October,  Bishop  Pettey  presiding.  Elders 
present,  M.  S.  Jordan,  G.  R.  Washington,  S.  Miller, 
W.  W.  Kanna,  E.  W.  King,  and  R.  C.  O.  Benjamin. 
Deacons,  G.  J.  Johnson,  H.  Johnson,  E.  Carter,  and  Z. 
McKindrick.  George  Beard  was  ordained  and  added  to 
the  deacons'  list  in  this  Conference.  Preachers  received, 
George  Pugh  and  Giles  Williams. 

In  1893  Conference  convened  at  Calvert,  Tex.,  first 
Wednesday  in  February,  Bishop  Pettey  presiding.  El- 
ders, P.  R.  Pittman,  G.  R.  Washington,  W.  W.  Kanna, 
E.  W.  King,  S.  Miller,  J.  A.  Russell,  J.  Steptoe,  and 
R.  E.  Shelton.  Deacons,  G.  J.  Johnson,  H.  Johnson, 
E.  Carter,  and  George  Beard.  Ordained,  Dr.  M.  A. 
Majors.  Preacher,  George  Pugh.  Received,  William 
Beneford.  Thus  ended  the  last  Conference  up  to  date 
held  in  Texas,  For  unforeseen  causes  the  time  of  con- 
vening was  changed  from  October,  1892,  and  hence  did 
not  meet  until  February  1,  1893.  The  redemption  of 
Zion  in  Texas  seems  to  have  been  assigned  to  Bishop 
Pettey.  The  work  having  almost  suspended,  it  remained 
for  him  to  restore  and  throw  light  upon  the  dark  places, 
give  strength  to  the  weak,  and  give  to  the  connection 
such  an  impetus  that  has  never  before  been  witnessed 
in  the  Lone  Star  State.  The  force  of  his  genius  as  well 
as  the  concentration  of  his  spiritual  power  seems  to  have 
added  to  the  work  the  long- wanting  features  of  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  expectations. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       439 

While  Bishop  Lomax  poses  as  the  leader  and  organizer 
of  the  work  in  Texas,  Bishop  Thompson  the  second 
bishop  to  carry  farther  the  pioneer  beginning  of  an 
undertaking  destined  to  be  great,  Bishop  Pettey  poses  as 
the  rebuilder  and  restorer  of  the  work  which  had  grown 
into  a  state  of  despondency  and  gloom. 

The  next  Annual  Conference  will  convene  third 
Wednesday  in  October,  1893,  at  Waco,  making  two 
Conferences  for  the  year  1893,  in  consequence  of  the 
postponement  in  1892. — M.  A.  Majors,  M.D.,  Secretary 
of  Texas  Conference. 

NORTH  GEORGIA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  T.  H.  Lo- 
max, D.D.,  in  1885,  as  the  offspring  of  the  Georgia  Con- 
ference. It  includes  the  northwestern  part  of  the  State 
of  Georgia,  including  Atlanta,  the  Gate  City.  The  roll  of 
North  Georgia  Conference  is  as  follows : 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  I.  C.  Clinton,  D.D. 

Ministers,  Revs.  W.  D.  Smith,  D.  M.  Pinkard,  G.  A. 
Smith,  O.  S.  Williams,  S.  P.  Jones,  J.  E.  Transue,  J. 
C.  Dunbar,  J.  F.  Flemington,  J.  R.  Turner,  H.  Wilson, 
J.  J.  Park,  C.  G.  Hill,  A.  Tompkins,  A.  P.  Heme,  L. 
W.  Taylor,    R.  Holl,    L.  P.  Freman. 

SOUTH  FLORIDA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  T.  H.  Lo- 
max, D.D.,  on  January  14,  1891.  The  following  is  the 
roll  of  members : 

Presiding  Bishop,  T.  H.  Lomax. 

Elders,  Joseph  Sexton,    G.  W.   Maize,    W.   G.  Strong, 
30 


440  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

J.  R.  Harris,  W.  C.  Westes,  B.  R.  Harris,  W.  A.  Bain, 
J.  M.  Sims. 

Deacons,  R.  R.  Frederick,  W.  J.  Sanders,  James  Dudley, 
A.  Long. 

Preachers,  H.  G.  Jones,    R.  W.  Ballard,   J.  H.  Jordan, 

D.  E.  White,  A.  G.  Higgs,  J.  D.  Ballard,  J.  F.  Fobbs, 
H.  W.  White. 

MISSOURI  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  T.  H. 
Loraax,  D.D.,  September  17,  1890,  in  Washington 
Chapel,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  It  started  off  under  very  favor- 
able auspices.  It  had  at  its  organization  twenty-six 
members.  Rev.  Anthony  Bunch,  one  of  the  oldest  mem- 
bers of  the  Kentucky  Conference,  headed  the  roll  in  this 
new  Conference.  There  are  few  men  living  who  can 
equal  Elder  Bunch  in  organizing  and  building  up  a 
church  under  adverse  circumstances.  The  following  is 
the  roll  of  members  of  Conference : 

Bishop,  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D. 

Presiding  Elder,  Rev.  Smith  Claiborne. 

Elders,  Anthony  Bunch,  Yarmouth  Carr,  Edward  Jack- 
son,   Adam  Wakefield,    W.  F.  Jones,     J.   P.  Thompson, 

E.  Stokes,  T.  J.  Manson,  J.  H.  Hardin,  J.  U.  Browder, 
D.  J.  Donohoo,  W.  H.  Ealy,  M.  A.  F.  Easton,  Alfred 
Nichols,  H*  W.  Smith. 

Deacons,  E.  Scott,  Joseph  Bunch,  C.  N.  Payne. 

Preachers,  Peter  Shelton,  David  Jackson,  Daniel  Shel- 
ton,  Lewis  Norton,  Paul  Shelton,  Henry  Parker. 

Lay  Delegates,  George  Boldrew,  first  division ;  J.  E. 
Couch,  second  division ;   Joseph  Stroughter,  third  divi- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      44I 

sion.    Rev.  John  W.  Alstork,  fraternal  delegate  by  letter 
from  Alabama  Conference. 

NORTH  LOUISIANA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  and  set  apart  by  the" 
Louisiana  Conference  November  20,  1890,  in  the  city  of 
New  Orleans,  under  the  administration  of  Bishop  C.  C. 
Pettey,  A.M.,  D.D.  Its  first  session  was  held  at  Thomp- 
son's Chapel,  near  Mann's  Station,  in  the  country  six 
miles  west  of  Vicksburg,  in  the  State  of  Louisiana, 
which  session  convened  at  twelve  o'clock  the  first  Wednes- 
day in  November,  1891,  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey  presiding. 
S.  M.  Morgan  was  elected  secretary.  Roll  of  members: 
H.  W.  Barnett,  presiding  elder  and  steward.  Elders, 
J.  H.  W.  Inge,  J.  W.  Johnson,  W.  S.  Davis,  R.  S.  Shel- 
ton,  and  J.  W.  Eason.  Deacon  John  Steptoe  was  or- 
dained an  elder.  Deacons,  none.  Preachers  received, 
A.  I.  Inge,  Washington  Betheny,  Henry  Carrell,  P.  C. 
Saunders,  Peter  Adams,  George  Carrell,  Smith  M.  Mor- 
gan, Robert  W.  Williams,  M.  J.  Roper,  and  Jefferson 
Williams. 

This  Conference  was  largely  attended,  and  great  inter- 
est was  manifested  by  the  entire  community.  After  an 
interesting  session  of  seven  days,  accompanied  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  the  Conference  adjourned  to  meet  in  Delhi, 
La.,  the  first  Wednesday  in  November,  1892. 

The  North  Louisiana  Conference  convened  in  Town- 
sen's  Chapel,  Delhi,  La.,  the  first  Wednesday  in  Novem- 
ber, 1892,  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey,  A.M.,  D.D.,  presiding, 
Smith  M.  Morgan,  secretary.  H.  W.  Barnett,  presiding 
elder   and  conference  steward.     Elders  on  roll,  H.   W. 


442  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Barnett,  J.  W.  Eason,  J.  W.  Johnson,  J.  H.  W.  Inge, 
W.  S.  Davis,  and  R.  S.  Shelton,  Elder  John  Steptoe 
having  transferred  to  the  Texas  Conference.  The  fol- 
lowing preachers  were  ordained  deacons:  Abraham  I. 
Inge,  Smith  M.  Morgan,  Morris  J.  Roper,  William 
Cooper,  Pollard  C.  Saunders,  Richard  W.  Williams, 
Peter  Adams,  Henry  Carrell,  and  Sandy  Jones.  Preach- 
ers, George  Carrell,  Jefferson  Williams,  and  Washington 
Betheny.  This,  the  second  session,  was  quite  interest- 
ing, but  quiet.  The  financial  reports  were  not  very  en- 
couraging, in  consequence  of  the  high  water,  which  did 
much  damage  to  the  cotton  farmers  of  all  that  section. 
Spiritually  and  numerically  we  all  had  cause  to  rejoice 
in  the  reports.  This  Conference,  set  apart  in  1890  with 
eight  ministers  and  traveling  preachers  and  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  members,  reported  at  Delhi  with 
six  elders,  nine  deacons,  and  three  preachers,  and  hav- 
ing more  than  four  hundred  members  on  roll. 

This  Conference  has  a  promising  outlook,  situated  as 
it  is  in  the  great  cotton  belt  of  Louisiana,  but  able  and 
devoted  Christian  ministers  are  greatly  needed.  After  a 
glorious  session  this  Conference  voted,  as  did  all  of  the 
Conferences  of  the  Sixth  Episcopal  District,  for  the 
union  of  the  two  great  Negro  Methodist  Churches,  and 
^adjourned  to  meet  at  Saint  James  Church,  Madison 
Parish,  La.,  the  first  Wednesday  in  December,  1893. 

We  give  below  the  roll  of  members  of  the  North 
Louisiana  Conference : 

Presiding  Elders,  Solomon  Johnson,  L.  W.  Oldfield. 

Elders,  H.  W.  Barnett,  J.  H.  W.  Inge,  S.  H.  N. 
Wallier,   Edward  D.  Armstead,  J.  N.  Davis,  A.  Wash- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       443 

ington,  A.  Humble,  Paul  Brimage,  P.  S.  Burton,  Allen 
J.  Seals,  Thomas  Jones,  S.  M.  Johnson,  J.  W.  Johnson, 
Sandy  Thompson,  H.  McNeal,  C.  F.  Gurtie,  I.  Pitts, 
I.  C.  Nicholas,  P.  E.  Jones,  J.  P.  Gundry. 

Deacons,  William  Baker,  Daniel  Lard,  H.  Jones,  R. 
Williams,  R.  Carroll,  S.  Jones,  Samuel  Ard,  J.  W. 
Kelley,  L.  M.  Morgan,  R.  Roper,  H.  Carroll. 

WESTERN  NORTH  CAROLINA  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Moore, 
in  November,  1891.  It  is  composed  of  counties  on  the 
east  side  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  extending  southeast  as  far 
as  Mecklenburg  and  northeast  as  far  as  Forsyth  County, 
forming  nearly  one  half  of  the  territory  previously 
within  the  bounds  of  the  Central  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference. This  is  a  splendid  region  of  country,  and, 
like  the  other  Conferences  in  North  Carolina,  this  is 
composed  of  active  and  intelligent  men.  This  is  the 
seventh  Conference  formed  out  of  the  territory  orig- 
inally within  the  bounds  of  the  North  Carolina  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  Moore  was  on  his  way  to  meet  this  Con- 
ference in  Charlotte  when  he  received  the  fatal  dart 
of  death  at  Greensboro,  N.  C.  Following  is  the  roll  of 
members : 

Presiding  Elders,  Revs.  George  H.  Haines,  A.M.,  M. 
V.  Marable,  Henry  L.  Simmons. 

Elders,  Revs.  P.  A.  McCorkle,  B.  F.  Martin,  G.  G. 
Musgrave,  S.  F.  Hamilton,  D.D.,  William  M.  Johnson, 
P.  J.  Holmes,  A.  L.  Newby,  R.  C.  Collins,  S.  D.  Wad- 
kins,  S.  W.  Jackson,  E.  C.  Davidson,  D.  E.  Best,  A.  T. 
Clement,   S.   Carter,  D.    C.   Covington,  Robert  H.  Sim- 


444  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

mons,  H.  B.  Bennett,  S.  S.  Murdock,  F.  Archie,  D.  A. 
McKoy,  S.  Herndon,  W.  J.  Benjamin,.  E.  L.  Campbell, 
J.  W.  Jinkens,  W.  M.  Little,  R.  B.  Bruce,  H.  L.  Hyatt, 
Eli  Alexander,  W.  O.  Wadell,  L.  N.  B.'H.  Wyche. 

Deacons,  Revs.  Charles  H.  Artis,  J.  A.  Miller,  C.  Rob- 
erts, J.'S.  McRae,  S.  M.  Pharr,  J.  M.  Fullenwider,  H. 
Hooser,  L.  A.  Barber,  M.  Caldwell,  C.  W.  Vanderburg, 
M.  M.  Smith,  J.  S.  Smith,  Peter  Caldwell,  J.  D.  Williams, 
W.  M.  Smith,  H.  J.  Simpson,  A.  D.  Dunlap,  C.  L.  Bias, 
W.  L.  Alexander,  S.  Speight,  Garrison  E.  Carter,  George 
Clement. 

Preachers,  W.  H.  Wolf,  P.  C.  Helton,  H.  J.  Simpson, 
T.  S.  Grier,  F.  M.  Stitt,   R.  D.   Davis,  J.  J.  Blanton. 

REV.  GEORGE  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

G.  S.  Adams,  was  born  in  Burke  County,  N.  C, 
ten  miles  from  Morganton,  November  6,  1868.  He  is  the 
oldest  of  four  brothers.  George  was  always  regarded  as  a 
very  good  boy ;  from  early  boyhood  he  was  prayerful, 
good-natured,  and  studious. 

When  but  five  years  old  he  was  baptized  by  Rev.  Sam- 
uel Alexander,  and  was  by  the  same  minister  received 
into  the  Trinity  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  Gaston  County,  at  eleven  years  of  age.  When 
twelve  years  old  the  same  minister  succeeded  in  get- 
ting him  to  accept  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  im- 
mediately became  an  active  Christian.  At  fourteen  years 
of  age  he  became  a  Sabbath  school  teacher,  at  sixteen 
years  of  age  a  class  leader  of  a  young  converts'  class. 

When  seventeen  years  old  he  was  licensed  as  a  local 
preacher  by  Presiding  Elder  E.  L.  Campbell,  September 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.      445 

12,  1885.  Young  Adams  taught  in  the  public  schools 
from  1885  to  1890.  He  entered  Livingstone  College  in 
1886,  where  he  received  his  college  training.  During 
his  college  days  he  was  received    November  21,    1887, 


REV.   G.   S.   ADAMS. 

by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  D.D.,  into  the  Central  North 
Carolina  Annual  Conference,  then  in  session  at  Con- 
cord, N.  C,  as  a  traveling  preacher.  He  was  then 
nineteen  years  old.  Bishop  Hood  made  him  a  mis- 
sionary that  year.     He  built  and  brought  into  the  Con- 


446  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

ference,  which  met  in  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  that  year  two 
churches.  He  was  greatly  eulogized  for  his  work,  and 
as  a  token  of  appreciation  was  given  a  scholarship  in 
Livingstone  College.  Dr.  Goler  presented  him  to  the 
Conference,  and  said  he  was  a  fine-looking  and  worthy 
young  man. 

In  1889  he  was  elected  a  deacon  at  Charlotte,  and  was 
by  Bishop  C.  R.  Harris  ordained  to  that  office  at  Salis- 
bury, December  23,  1889.  Young  Adams  was  petitioned 
for  and  sent  to  Thomas's  Chapel,  Hickory,  N.  C.  He 
stayed  there  two  years  and  met  with  great  success.  He 
had  many  converts,  almost  doubled  the  membership,  re- 
paired and  refurnished  the  church. 

When  the  Annual  Conference  assembled  at  Statesville 
he  was  elected  an  elder  and  ordained  to  it  by  Bishop  J. 
J.  Moore,  November  25,  1890.  August  6,  1890,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Lillie  G.  Fleming,  of  Morganton,  N.  C, 
Rev.  George  H.  Haines  officiating.  She  is  a  most  ex- 
cellent Church  worker,  a  good  Christian,  and  a  splendid 
minister's  wife.  She  knows  how  to  make  and  hold 
friends. 

In  1 89 1  Rev.  Adams  was  appointed  to  Grace  Church 
at  Charlotte.  He  had  the  largest  and  most  successful  re- 
vival and  the  largest  congregation  known  in  the  history 
of  that  church.  He  cleared  that  church  of  debt  in 
twelve  months  and  added  forty  persons  to  the  church. 

May,  1893,  he  took  a  notion  to  transfer,  and  asked  my 
opinion.  I  told  him,  inasmuch  as  he  was  a  young, 
scholarly,  and  wide-awake  preacher,  to  come  North.  He 
saw  Bishop  Hood,  who  transferred  him  last  May  to  Yon- 
kers,  N.  Y.,  where  he  was  warmly  received  by  his  church 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       447 

and  is  meeting  with  great  success.  White  and  colored 
are  nocking  to  hear  him.  He  is  arranging  to  build  a  par- 
sonage. Of  his  success  and  preaching  the  editor  of  the 
Star  of  Zion  says  in  one  of  the  July  issues,  ' '  Rev.  G.  S. 
Adams,  who  was  recently  transferred  to  the  New  York 
Conference  and  stationed  at  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  has  already 
shown  himself  to  be  admirably  adapted  to  the  place  and 
people.  The  amount  raised  by  him  on  Children's  Day 
last  Sunday  was  fifty  dollars,  which  greatly  excels  any 
sum  raised  in  that  State  outside  of  New  York  city  and 
at  Mother  Zion." 

Speaking  of  his  sermon  before  the  Tennessee  Annual 
Conference  last  fall  a  year  ago,  Editor  Clinton,  in  the 
Star,  said,  "Adams  is  a  good  speaker  and  a  fine  ser- 
monizer." 

In  conversation  he  is  very  entertaining,  and  impresses 
one  with  the  fact  that  he  is  a  deep  thinker.  He  is  fre- 
quently called  the  "boy  preacher."  The  Bible  and 
human  nature  are  his  text-books.  He  carefully  pre- 
pares his  sermons,  which  are  always  interesting  and 
instructive  to  the  hearers.  His  fraternal  address  deliv- 
ered before  our  Conference  last  May  was  frequently 
punctured  with  applause  and  highly  commended. — J.  W. 
Smith,  in  Star  of  Zion. 

REV.    WILLIAM    HARVEY    GOLER,   D.D. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  first  saw  the  light  in  Halifax, 
N.  S. ,  on  January  1 ,  1 846.  The  circumstances  of  his  child- 
hood and  youth  were  such  as  to  develop  the  masterful  traits 
of  character  which  have  stood  him  in  such  good  stead  in 
all  his  later  life.     Being  early  deprived  of  parents,  and 


448  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

hampered  by  other  infelicities  of  home  life,  he  was  thrown 
out  to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world.  Young  Goler  en- 
joyed for  a  time  the  advantages  of  the  public  schools  of  the 
city  of  Halifax,  and  these  advantages  he  used  with  his 
characteristic  diligence  and  application  until  his  fifteenth 
year,  when  he  was  apprenticed  to  the  firm  of  Coleman  & 
Brown,  bricklayers  and  plasterers  of  that  city.  In  1867, 
during  a  revival  held  by  Rev.  Stephen  Goosley,  then 
pastor  of  Zion  Church  at  Halifax,  he  was  happily  con- 
verted. He  at  once  became  an  active  member  of  the 
church.  Rev.  R.  R.  Morris,  now  Dr.  Morris,  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Sabbath  School  Union  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  was  pastor  in  the  city 
of  Halifax,  and  personal  contact  with  Dr.  Morris  and  the 
doctor's  sermons  greatly  impressed  Mr.  Goler  and  exerted 
upon  him  an  influence  which  strengthened  and  stimulated 
him  in  after  years.  Although  Mr.  Goler  felt  drawn  to 
the  ministry  his  high  ideas  as  to  the  preparation  of  head 
and  heart  necessary  to  the  right  performance  of  the 
solemn  duties  of  the  gospel  ministry  caused  him  to  shrink 
even  from  making  it  known.  But,  faithful  to  the  inner 
voice  that  prompted  him  to  go  and  preach,  he  decided  to 
leave  his  home  and  kindred  for  the  purpose  of  preparing 
himself  to  heed  the  call. 

In  1870  he  went  to  Boston  and  entered  upon  the  pros- 
ecution of  the  business  of  his  trade.  He  stuck  to  his 
business  with  great  industry  and  economy  for  three  years, 
during  which  time  he  reaped  some  of  the  large  pecuniary 
harvest  which  was  the  good  fortune  of  Boston  contractors 
during  those  years  of  plenty,  and  saved  up  therefrom  the 
means  upon  which  he  entered  Lincoln  University,  in  1873. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      449 

Having  given  most  of  his  time  to  manual  pursuits  up  to 
this  period,  it  was  but  natural  that  he  should  find  himself 
at  a  disadvantage  in  entering  the  regular  college  depart- 
ment of  the  university,  but  he  was  able  to  enter  the  fresh- 
man class  after  only  one  year  in  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment. 

In  the  year  1875  he  met  E.  Moore,  now  Dr.  E.  Moore, 


REV.    W.    H.  GOLER,    D.D. 

of  Livingstone  College.  This  is  a  notable  incident  in  the 
life  of  our  subject,  because  he  and  Dr.  Moore  have  been 
associated  as  fellow-professors  in  Livingstone  College  for 
the  past  ten  years.  At  the  same  time  he  also  met  Dr. 
J.  C.  Price.  He  and  Dr.  Price  at  once  became  attached 
to  each  other,  and  there  sprang  up  between  them  a  friend- 
ship which  was  only  strengthened  with  the  passing  years. 
During  the  summer  months  he  earned  money  enough  by 


450  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

all  sorts  of  honorable  labor  to  defray  his  expenses  during 
each  succeeding  school  term.  He  graduated  in  June, 
1878,  the  valedictorian  of  his  class,  and  received  the 
degree  of  A.B.  In  September  of  the  same  year  he 
entered  the  theological  seminary  connected  with  his 
alma  mater,  and  Rev.  J.  C.  Price  was  his  classmate.  He 
took  the  full  three  years'  seminary  course,  and  graduated 
in  April,  1881,  with  the  degree  of  B.D.  While  prosecuting 
his  course  in  theology  he,  in  company  with  Revs.  Dr.  J. 
C.  Price,  S.  P.  Wood,  and  Dr.  W.  H.  Weaver,  traveled 
extensively  in  the  interest  of  the  university,  going  into 
the  principal  cities  of  New  York  State,  Pennsylvania, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Michigan.  In  1883  he  accepted1 
from  Dr.  Price  an  invitation  to  join  him  in  the  work  at 
Livingstone  College,  then  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  but  he 
did  not  enter  fully  upon  duty  there  until  March;  1884. 
He  preached  the  first  annual  sermon  for  the  college  at  its 
commencement  in  1884,  when  the  eloquent  and  lamented 
Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  delivered  the  annual  oration. 
This  sermon  might  perhaps  be  termed  in  some  sense  Pro- 
fessor Goler's  inaugural  address  at  Livingstone,  for  by  his 
sound  views,  eloquently  expressed,  he  won  every  heart 
and  placed  himself  before  the  trustees  and  church  as  an 
eminently  desirable  man  for  a  place  in  the  faculty  of  the 
institution  as  professor,  either  in  the  classical  or  theo- 
logical department.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  Professor 
Goler  was  regularly  installed  as  a  member  of  the  faculty 
of  Livingstone  College. 

During  the  first  year  of  his  professorship  at  Livingstone 
he  held  the  pastorate  of  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  at  Winston,  but  soon  withdrew  from  the  Metho- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      45 1 

dist  Episcopal  Church,  and  was  received  by  Bishop  Hood 
into  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  He 
was  appointed  by  Bishop  Jones  to  the  Salisbury  (N.  C.) 
station,  where  he  remained  three  years,  inspiring  the 
entire  Church  with  new  life  and  giving  it  new  impetus. 
It  was  Professor  Goler  who  conceived  the  idea  of  ' '  The 
Soldiers'  Memorial  Church  "  and  started  the  fund  for  that 
purpose.  He  gave  inception  to  the  plans  which  were 
wrought  out  so  admirably  by  Rev.  P.  A.  McCorkle  in  the 
building  of  the  magnificent  new  church  at  Salisbury.  By 
this  time  Professor  Goler  had  shown  that  he  could  do 
things  that  few  others  could  do,  and  so  Bishop  Moore 
appointed  him  to  Winston  to  restore  Zion's  footing  in 
that  growing  city.  During  an  incumbency  of  two  years 
he  succeeded  in  bringing  Winston  up  from  a  mere  point 
on  a  circuit  to  be  a  creditable  station.  Against  untold 
and  unknown  odds  he  recovered  Zion's  lost  ground  there 
and  erected  for  the  connection  a  fine  brick  church,  one 
of  the  handsomest  houses  of  worship  in  the  State.  All 
this  was  done  at  great  personal  sacrifice  and  labor.  Not 
only  did  he  give  freely  of  his  small  salary,  but  labored 
incessantly  with  his  own  hands  on  the  walls  of  the  build- 
ing, and  did  not  come  down  until  it  was  finished.  He 
was  then  sent  by  Bishop  Moore  to  Greensboro  to  do  a 
similar  work.  In  this  he  was  compelled  to  begin  at  the 
beginning — even  to  the  extent  of  effecting  a  permanent 
organization  for  the  connection  in  that  city.  This  he 
soon  did,  and  then  secured  a  most  eligible  site  for  a 
church.  He  erected  a  temporary  chapel,  and  proceeded 
to  formulate  plans  and  raise  money  for  the  elegant  new 
church  to  be  built  there.     Professor  Goler's  merits  and 


452  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

distinguished  ability  soon  gave  him  the  position  of  a 
leader  in  his  new  Conference,  a  position  which  can  be  at- 
tained by  a  new  man  only  through  rare  talents  and  genu- 
ine force  of  character. 

Professor  Goler,  in  order  to  complete  his  equipment 
for  the  large  field  which  he  was  now  to  occupy,  betook 
to  himself  a  companion  to  lighten  up  the  path  of  life's 
devious  way. 

He  married  Miss  Emma  Unthank,  the  accomplished 
daughter  of  Mr.  Harmen  Unthank,  a  leading  citizen  of 
Greensboro,  N.  C.  In  this  selection  he  showed  a  pecul- 
iar genius  for  the  good,  the  true,  and  the  beautiful,  all  of 
which  are  highly  characteristic  of  Mrs.  Goler ;  and  one 
can  think  of  Dr.  Goler's  success  only  in  the  light  of  Mrs. ' 
Goler's  constancy  and  helpfulness.  His  energy  and  use- 
fulness caused  ,him  to  be  chosen  a  delegate  to  represent 
his  Conference  in  the  General  Conference  of  1888,  held 
in  New  Berne,  N.  C.  He  played  his  part  in  this  session 
of  the  chief  council  of  the  Church  with  such  dignity  and 
power  that  the  brethren  were  impressed  that  he  was 
an  eminently  fit  man  to  be  returned,  and  consequently 
he  was  among  the  first  of  the  delegates  to  be  elected 
to  the  General  Conference  of  1892,  to  be  held  in  Pitts- 
burg, Pa. 

The  best  evidence  of  his  standing  in  this  session  of  the 
General  Conference  is  in  the  fact  that  he  was  chosen  the 
fraternal  messenger  to  represent  the  connection  in  the 
General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
then  in  session  in  Omaha,  Neb.  He  was  also  chosen  a 
member  of  the  commission  on  behalf  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  to  confer  with  a  like 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      453 

commission  of  the  American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
on  the  subject  of  organic  union. 

In  April,  1891,  he  received  from  Lincoln  University  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity,  an  honor  un- 
sought, but  thoroughly  merited.  The  reader  may  get 
an  idea  what  estimate  is  placed  by  his  alma  mater  upon 
Dr.  Goler's  worth  and  ability  from  the  following  state- 
ment of  Dr.  I.  N.  Rendall,  the  president  of  the  univer- 
sity. Dr.  Rendall  says:  "  He  (Dr.  Goler)  is  one  of  our 
best  men,  in  ability,  in  attainment,  and  in  character.  His 
self-sacrificing  and  successful  work  in  Livingstone  College, 
as  an  associate  of  the  late  President  J.  C.  Price,  reflects 
great  credit  on  his  alma  mater."  In  this  statement 
Dr.  Rendall  has  called  attention  to  Dr.  Goler's  chief 
work,  in  speaking  of  "  self-sacrificing  and  successful 
work  in  Livingstone  College,  as  an  associate  of  the  late 
President  J.  C.  Price."  In  this  did  Dr.  Goler  indeed  dem- 
onstrate, not  only  an  unwavering  devotion  to  his  be- 
loved chief,  but  an  unselfishness  and  capacity  for  labor 
that  are  no  less  remarkable  than  astonishing  to  all  who 
know  of  his  extraordinary  work  in  "  Livingstone."  The 
trustees  of  the  college  showed  the  high  estimate  which 
they  placed  upon  this  great  service  by  electing  him  at 
their  annual  meeting  in  1883  to  the  position  of  dean 
of  the  college,  with  all  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of 
president  when  the  president  should  be  absent ;  and  the 
executive  committee  of  the  trustee  board,  at  their  recent 
annual  meeting  in  Charlotte,  unanimously  nominated  him 
to  succeed  to  the  presidency  made  vacant  by  the  death  of 
the  lamented  Dr.  Price.  Personally  Dr.  Goler  is  one  of 
the    kindliest    and   most   philanthropic    of   men,   and    a 


454  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

genial,  never-failing  friend.  As  a  business  man  he  is 
one  of  the  safest  and  most  prudent.  In  this  he  presents 
a  splendid  but  rare  combination.  It  is  not  a  very  com- 
mon thing  for  a  successful  literary  man  to  demonstrate 
signal  financial  ability.  In  many  instances  they  hardly 
command  enough  money  to  guarantee  to  them  a  compe- 
tence. But  in  this  respect  Dr.  Goler  has  honored  his 
race,  furnishing  one  of  the  best  illustrations  the  race  has 
of  a  professional  educator  who  has  also  through  indus- 
try and  rigid  economy  acquired  some  means,  and  evinc- 
ing at  all  times  a  tact  and  success  in  business  that,  should 
he  choose  to  follow  mercantile  pursuits,  would  give  him 
high  rank  in  the  commercial  world.  But  he  has  studi- 
ously stuck  to  his  calling  as  a  plain  school-teacher  and 
humble  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  all  of  which  is  in  keeping 
with  his  modesty  and  retiring,  unassuming  habits. 

Dr.  Goler  is  never  eager  for  a  conflict,  and  yet  he  is 
fearless  and  independent  in  the  expression  of  his  views, 
and,  where  honor  and  duty  require  it,  aggressive  and 
unyielding.  As  a  husband  and  host  he  is  devoted  and 
most  dutiful,  always  exerting  himself  industriously  and 
unstintedly  for  the  comfort  of  his  family  and  the  en- 
tertainment of  his  friends.  In  placing  the  subject  of 
our  sketch  at  the  head  of  Livingstone  College,  the  trus- 
tee board  and  connection  are  to  be  congratulated. 

In  the  first  place  this  carries  out  the  implied  and  ex- 
pressed wish  of  Dr.  Price,  whose  inestimable  services  to 
the  college  and  the  Church  command  that  his  will  must 
not  be  ignored  in  any  place  where  it  can  be  found  out. 
And  again,  in  electing  him  president,  the  trustees  have 
committed  the  destiny  of  the  college  to  the  hands  of  one 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      455 

of  the  best  equipped,  most  resourceful,  all-round  men, 
not  only  in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
but  of  the  race.  S.  G.  Atkins. 

OHIO  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood, 
September,  1 89 1 .  It  is  the  offspring  of  the  Alleghany 
Conference,  and  includes  all  that  part  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  lying  west  of  the  Alleghany  River,  and  is 
intended  to  include  as  much  of  the  State  of  Ohio  as  can 
be  occupied.  At  present  there  are  only  a  few  appoint- 
ments in  that  State.  For  some  reason  the  connection  has 
not  made  much  impression  on  Ohio.  We  had  a  good  start 
there  in  the  days  of  Rev.  Joseph  Armstrong,  a  most  faith- 
ful and  highly  respected  minister,  but  he  was  transferred 
to  Washington  City,  and  the  work  he  had  so  well  begun 
was  suffered  to  languish.  Rev.  Jehu  Holliday  might  have 
pushed  on  the  work,  but  he  was  transferred  to  the  Ken- 
tucky Conference.  The  men  who  were  left  to  carry  on 
this  Ohio  work  were  unfaithful.  Some  let  their  charac- 
ters run  down,  some  were  slow,  and  some  failed  to  im- 
prove their  intellectual  capabilities  and  were  unable  to 
entertain  the  people ;  so  that  at  the  time  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Ohio  Conference  there  were  only  four 
churches  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  By  transfer  we  now  have 
several  young  and  active  men  in  this  Conference,  and  with 
a  most  efficient  presiding  elder  we  hope  to  see  soon  an 
improved  condition.  We  cannot  expect  very  rapid  prog- 
ress, for  broken-down  work  is  harder  to  build  up  than 
new  work;  nevertheless,  we  hope  to  see  a  flourishing 
Ohio  Conference.     Of  the  men  who  have  lono;  labored  in 

31 


456  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

this  section  Revs.  J.  H.  Trimble  and  George  W.  Lewis 
are  the  most  distinguished.  The  present  roll  is  as 
follows : 

Bishop,  J.  W.  Hood. 

Presiding  Elder,   J.  H.  Trimble. 

Elders,  George  W.  Lewis,  E.  J.  Little,  W.  H.  Dar- 
sey,  R.  J.  Strother,  M.  R.  Franklin,  C.  W.  M.  Cypress, 
H.  Ross,  H.  Butler,  D.  Mathews,  J.  S.  Cowles,  Thomas 
H.  Slater,  D.  G.  Moore,  C.  Campbell,  and  W.  H.  Ham- 
ilton. 

SOUTH  MISSISSIPPI  CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  C.  R.  Har- 
ris, D.D.,  in  December,  1891. 

PALMETTO    CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  organized  by  Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey, 
D.D.,  in  1 89 1.     Following  is  the  roll  of  members: 

Bishop,  Right  Rev.  I.  C.  Clinton. 

Ministers,  Revs.  E.  Hinton,  J.  Dunning,  W.  M. 
Weatherspoon,  W.  W.  Thompson,  S.  L.  Deas,  D.  S. 
Miller,  J.  R.  Iberd,  H.  Williams,  J.  Brown,  L.  W.  Lee, 
W.  W.  Hall,  S.  P.  Meek,  C.  H.  Hood,  R.  B.  Williams, 
J.  A.  Morris,  W.  Johnson,  L.  W.  Steward,  S.  L.  Jones, 
S.  C.  Smith,  J.  Lucon,  E.  Gales,  G.  W.  Murphy,  F. 
Adams,  A.  G.  Williams,  C.  A.  King,  F.  Archer,  J.  R. 
Bickham,  J.  B.  Robeson,  H.  Blake,  A.  McNeil,  D.  P. 
Edwards,  L.  J.  Hendrick,  J.  R.  Blake,  R.  K.  Kerant, 
J.  M.  Newton. 

OREGON  CONFERENCE. 

Set  off  by  the  California  Conference  in  1892. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      457 

EAST    TENNESSEE,    VIRGINIA,    AND    NORTH    CARO- 
LINA   CONFERENCE. 

This  Conference  was  formed  by  Bishop  Thomas  H. 
Lomax  in  1892.  It  has  four  presiding  elders'  districts, 
and  covers  that  region  of  North  Carolina  which  lies  west  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  with  the  adjoining  section  of  southwestern 
Virginia  and  the  section  of  Tennessee  east  of  Knoxville. 

GENERAL  CONFERENCE,  1892. 

The  following  is  the  roll  of  the  General  Conference 

held  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  in  1892. 

Bishops,  Right  Revs.  J.  J.  Moore,  D.D. ;  J.  W.  Hood, 

D.D.  ;  J.  P.  Thompson,  D.D.,  M.D. ;  T.  H.  Lomax,  D.D.  ; 

C.  C.  Pettey,  D.D. ;   C.  R.   Harris,  D.D. ;    I.  C.  Clinton, 

D.D.,*  A.  Walters,  D.D.* 

General  Steward,  Rev.  J.  W.  Alstork,  D.D.* 

General  Secretary,  Rev.  W.  H.   Day,  D.D.  • 

Agent  of  the  Book  Room,  Rev.  Jehu  Holliday,  D.D.* 

Editor  Star  of  Zion,   Hon.  J.  C.   Dancy.  f 

Editor  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Quarterly, 

Rev.  G.  W.  Clinton,  A.B.  f 

President  of  Livingstone  College,   Rev.  J.  C.  Price,  D.D. 
Missionary  Secretary,  Rev.  J.  H.  Manley,   D.D. 
Educational  Secretary,  Professor  S.  G.  Atkins. 
Sunday  School  Department,   Rev.  R.    R.   Morris,  D.D., 

Superintendent;  Rev.  T.  A.   Weathington,  Secretary. 
Bureau  of  Statistics,  Rev.  N.  J.  Green,  D.D.  (deceased), 

Chairman;   Revs.  J.  H.  White,  J.  S.  Caldwell. 

*  These  were  elected  at  this  Conference. 
t  Dancy  and  Clinton  changed  places. 


458 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


Women  s  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  Mrs.  M.  J. 
Jones,  President;  Mrs.  K.  P.  Hood,  Secretary;  Mrs. 
Sarah  Pettey,  Treasurer. 

Publishing  Committee,  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood,  Chairman ; 
Rev.  R.  H.  Stitt,  Bishop  A.  Walters,  Revs.  W.  H.  Day, 
J.  B.  Small,  J.  H.  White. 


BISHOP    S.    T.   JONES. 


The  officers  of  the  Book  Room  included  the  entire 
Board  of  Bishops,  with  an  Executive  Committee,  composed 
as  follows:  Bishop  A.  Walters,  Chairman;  N.  J.  Green 
(deceased),  J.  H.  White. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      459 

J.  C.  PRICE,  D.D., 
President  of  Livingstone  College. 

We  first  knew  Joseph  C.  Price,  we  think,  as  a  little  boy 
in  Sabbath  school,  a  member  of  our  wife's  class,  about 
1866 ;  but  we  have  a  more  distinct  recollection  of  him  at 
a  later  date.  In  1869  or  1870  we  visited  the  school  in  New 
Berne,  taught  by  a  Miss  Merrick  (who  we  think  was,  at  a 
later  period,  married  to  the  reconstruction  governor, 
Reed,  of  Florida).  Joseph  Price  was,  in  Miss  Merrick's 
opinion,  her  most  promising  boy.  There  was  another  boy 
in  school  at  that  time  who  was  thought  by  some  to  be 
Joseph's  superior.  He  was  a  mulatto,  while  Joseph  was 
a  pure  black ;  and  there  were  those  who  at  that  time  held 
the  idea  that  whatever  smartness  the  Negro  possessed 
was  inherited  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  race ;  such  believed 
that  in  the  long  run  this  mulatto  boy  would  excel.  Miss 
Merrick,  however,  pinned  her  faith  to  her  black  boy,  and 
well  did  he  vindicate  her  opinion.  We  have  no  need  to  say 
that  she  took  great  interest  in  his  development.  Her 
successor  was  not  her  equal  as  a  teacher,  and  Joseph  con- 
cluded to  seek  a  better  school.  He  entered  Shaw  Uni- 
versity, but  found  it  not  quite  to  his  mind,  and  therefore 
went  to  Lincoln  University,  from  which  he  graduated. 

About  the  year  1875  he  embraced  religion  in  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  at  New  Berne,  N.  C. , 
of  which  church  his  mother  was  a  faithful  member,  and 
in  the  Sabbath  school  of  which  he  had  received  his  earli- 
est instructions. 

In  the  year  1876  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the 
Quarterly  Conference,  and  in  the  same  year,  while  still  a 


460 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


student  in  college,  he  was  recommended  to  and  received 
into  the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference.  Objection 
was  raised  against  his  admission  because  he  was  not  pres- 
ent ;  but  Elder  J.  A.  Tyler  was  anxious  to  have  him  sent  as 
a  delegate  to  the  next  General  Conference,  and  for  that 
purpose  it  was  thought  necessary  to  get  him  in  at  that 

session.  The  bishop  was 
informed  of  Elder  Tyler's 
purpose,  and  threw  the 
weight  of  his  influence  in 
the  young  man's  favor; 
he  held  that  the  point 
raised  was  more  a  matter 
of  custom  than  of  positive 
law.  At  the  next  ensuing 
Conference  the  question 
of  ordaining  him  deacon 
created  quite  a  discussion, 
because  he  had  not  trav- 
eled nor  held  a  pastoral 
charge ;  he  had  not  even 
met  the  Conference.  The 
bishop  could  see  no  ob- 
jection, and  the  motion 
to  ordain  him  prevailed,  the  bishop  being  authorized  to 
ordain  him  at  sight.  At  the  end  of  his  third-  year  he 
was  elected  to  elder's  orders,  and  elected  a  delegate  to 
the  General  Conference  which  assembled  in  Montgomery, 
Ala.,  May,  1880. 

We  know  of  no  other  man  being  thus  received  into  an 
Annual  Conference  and  advanced  to  deacon's  and  elder's 


REV.   J.    C    PRICE,    D.D. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       46 1 

orders  and  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference 
without  ever  having  met  the  Annual  Conference. 

The  beauty  of  it  was  that  Brother  Price  had  no  part 
whatever  in  his  rapid  advancement ;  he  simply  acquiesced 
in  what  was  done.  Without  his  asking  it  the  leaders  of 
the  church  in  New  Berne  recommended  him  to  the  pas- 
tor ;  the  pastor  appointed  a  time  for  him  to  preach  a  trial 
sermon,  on  which  the  pastor  and  leaders  recommended 
him  to  the  Quarterly  Conference  and  he  was  licensed  to 
preach,  and  soon  after  that  was  recommended  by  the 
Quarterly  Conference  as  a  candidate  for  membership  in 
the  Annual  Conference.  The  pastor  carried  that  recom- 
mendation to  the  Annual  Conference  and  he  was  received 
on  trial.  He  was  finally  received  into  full  connection  in 
the  Annual  Conference,  and  all  these  steps  were  taken 
without  any  word  from  him. 

We  feel  quite  sure  that  he  had  no  idea  that  he  would  be 
ordained  deacon  at  the  time  he  was,  until  after  the  Con- 
ference had' passed  upon  it.  He  may  have  had  some 
previous  inkling  of  his  promotion  to  elder's  orders  and  of 
his  election  as  delegate  to  the  General  Conference,  and 
yet  we  are  not  certain  that  he  had.  He  failed  to  meet  the 
Conference  at  its  session  because  he  was  in  school  at  the 
time  of  its  sittings,  and  it  was  thought  better  to  excuse 
him  than  to  put  him  to  the  expense  of  the  trip  from  Lin- 
coln University  to  the  seat  of  the  Conference  in  North 
Carolina.  Not  only  the  expense,  but  the  loss  of  time 
was  considered. 

That  the  North  Carolina  Conference  could  thus  favor 
and  honor  a  young  man  who  had  done  no  pastoral  work, 
with  nothing  upon  which  to  base  its  action  except  some- 


462  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

one's  opinion  that  he  was  destined  to  be  a  great  man, 
without  strong  opposition,  was  not  to  be  expected.  Rev. 
J.  A.  Tyler,  his  elder,  deserves  great  credit  for  the  man- 
ner in  which  he  stood  by  his  boy  from  the  time  he  first 
presented  his  name  to  the  Annual  Conference.  There 
were  objections  when  he  was  received  into  the  Annual 
Conference,  objections  to  his  ordinations  and  to  his  elec- 
tion as  delegate  to  the  General  Conference;  but  in  all 
these  cases  Rev.  Tyler  espoused  his  cause.  Dr.  Price 
certainly  knew  nothing  of  these  contests  till  they  were 
over ;  we  are  not  certain  that  he  ever  knew.  It  was  the 
policy  of  his  friends  that  he  should  not  know,  that  he 
might  not  be  discouraged.  We  did  not  know  him  then 
as  we  did  later,  or  we  might  have  spared  ourselves  the 
fear  of  his  becoming  discouraged  by  opposition.  He  was 
not  made  that  way. 

At  the  General  Conference  in  1880  some  of  us  expected 
opposition  to  his  being  seated,  and  it  came.  Some  busy- 
body informed  the  Committee  on  Credentials  that  Price 
had  not  traveled  four  years,  as  the  law  squired  ;  it  lacked 
six  months  of  being  four  years  from  the  time  he  was  re- 
ceived on  trial.  Here  was  thought  to  be  a  case  in  which 
it  seemed  that  the  law  was  clearly  against  his  admission ; 
but  the  bishop  of  the  district  from  which  Price  was  a  del- 
egate heard  of  the  purpose  to  leave  Price  out,  and  he 
went  before  the  committee  and  convinced  them  that  Price 
ought  to  be  seated,  and  he  was  seated  without  a  contest 
on  the  Conference  floor.  There  was,  however,  a  little 
private  grumbling  for  several  days.  But  in  the  early 
part  of  the  session  a  fraternal  messenger  from  the  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  (Bethel)  Church  presented  his 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      463 

credentials,  and  an  hour  was  fixed  for  him  to  deliver  his 
message.  While  he  was  speaking  the  bishop,  who  was 
presiding,  beckoned  to  Price,  who  approached  the  altar,  x 
and  the  bishop  whispered  to  him  that  he  wished  him  to 
respond  to  the  fraternal  message.  Price  returned  to  his 
seat,  and  we  noticed  that  his  eyes  were  shut  and  his  lips 
were  in  silent  motion.  When  he  arose  to  speak  there 
were  few  who  had  any  knowledge  of  his  ability ;  and  as 
the  message  to  which  he  was  to  respond  had  been  fairly 
well  delivered  by  one  who  wore  the  title  of  D.D.,  there 
was,  for  the  first  few  seconds,  great  anxiety,  which  was 
followed  by  deep  interest,  and  this,  in  turn,  by  astonish- 
ment; finally  the  entire  General  Conference  was  filled 
with  uncontrollable  rapture,  which  found  vent  in  most 
hearty  applause. 

We  have  heard  Dr.  Price  on  many  occasions,  when  he 
well  sustained  his  reputation  as  "the  world's  orator;" 
but  never  have  we  listened  to  him  with  deeper  interest  or 
greater  satisfaction. than  on  that  occasion.  He  completely 
vindicated  thosex^ho  had  been  charged  with  pushing 
him  forward  regardless  of  law ;  and  those  who  had  been 
complaining  vied  with  his  former  friends  in  lavishing 
praise. 

The  remarkable  thing  then  noticed  was  that  praise  did 
not  affect  him.  In  all  our  knowledge  of  men  we  have 
never  seen  another  upon  whom  praise  had  so  little  ap- 
parent effect.  It  absolutely  had  no  perceptible  effect 
upon  Price. 

Praise  causes  some  to  blush  and  others  to  boast;  it 
makes  some  feel  humble  and  fills  others  with  pride ;  but 
the  closest  scrutiny  could  not  detect  any  effect  of  any 


464  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

kind  upon  Dr.  Price.  This  was  one  of  his  peculiar  char- 
acteristics and  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  his  success.  He 
was  so  perfectly  at  ease  under  all  circumstances  that 
everybody  felt  like  accommodating  him,  and  very  few 
had  the  nerve  to  say  "  No;"  and  those  who  did  so  put 
it  in  a  shape  which  relieved  it  of  all  harshness. 

After  Senator  Stanford  had  given  him  five  thousand 
dollars  for  Livingstone  College  he  called  on  Mr.  Crocker, 
another  millionaire,  who  could  have  given  him  largely  if 
he  had  so  chosen,  and  he  was  satisfied  that  Price  knew  it. 
He  thought  for  a  moment  and  said,  "Mr.  Price,  this 
thing  doesn't  appeal  to  me."  That,  of  course,  closed  the 
effort,  for  certainly  you  cannot  expect  a  man  to  contrib- 
ute to  a  cause  which  is  out  of  the  range  of  his  sense  of 
duty. 

Dr.  Price's  denominational  career  commenced  with  his 
appearance  at  the  General  Conference  in  1880.  His  voice 
was  heard  in  debate  upon  all  the  important  subjects  dis- 
posed of  by  that  assembly,  as  it  ha^b^n  v  every  Gen- 
eral Conference  since  that  time.  An*,  _%.,,  the  institution 
upon  which  he  has  so  completely  fixed  bis  impress,  and  for 
which  he  labored  so  hard  and  faithfully,  received  but  lit- 
tle attention  from  him  at  that  time.  We  do  not  remember 
that  he  took  any  prominent  part  in  securing  its  adoption 
by  the  General  Conference  as  a  connectional  institution. 
It  was  then  known  as  the  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  pro- 
jected by  the  North  Carolina  Conference  and  incorporated 
by  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina.  It  was  simply  on 
paper,  however,  like  many  other  projects. 

The  church  at  Concord  had  donated  seven  acres  of  land 
to  secure  its  erection  at  that  place ;  but  nothing  had  been 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      465 

done  in  the  way  of  erecting  buildings.  It,  however,  had 
been  decided  to  open  school  at  that  place  the  following 
winter.  Rev.  C.  R.  Harris  (now  bishop)  had  been  elected 
principal. 

.  It  was  in  1881  that  Dr.  Price  began  to  be  known  in  all 
the  world,  first  by  his  speeches  in  North  Carolina  during 
the  Prohibition  campaign  in  that  State.  Hon.  William 
E.  Dodge,  of  New  York,  was  asked  to  assist  in' that  cam- 
paign, and  he  agreed  to  furnish  one  speaker  of  his  own 
selection.  Price  was  the  person  selected,  and  no  other 
speaker  made  a  better  impression.  White  ladies  who  had 
never  listened  to  a  Negro  orator  before  were  so  pleased 
that  they  lavished  bouquets  of  flowers  upon  him,  and  the 
best  men  of  the  State  were  proud  to  occupy  the  same 
platform  with  him. 

During  the  same  year  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the 
great  Ecumenical  Conference  which  assembled  in  City 
Road  Chapel,  London,  England.  It  was  there  that,  in  a 
five-minute  sj.      ^V^e, secured  the  attention  of  the  world, 


for  which  he  wflOalled  "the  world's  orator."  The 
wonder  to  people  was  that,  while  he  was  a  stranger  to 
nearly  all  the  delegates,  the  audience  seemed  to  know 
him.  The  secret  was  that  he  had  captured  an  audience 
of  about  two  thousand  people  at  the  town  of  Hastings, 
where  he  had  lectured  a  few  days  previous,  and  there 
were  possibly  a  hundred  of  those  who  had  heard  him 
there  who  had  come  to  London  hoping  to  hear  him  again ; 
they  were  scattered  about  in  the  galleries,  and  hence  when 
he  arose  to  speak  there  were  calls  for  Price  from  all 
parts  of  the  house,  except  that  portion  reserved  for  the 
delegates. 


466  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

To  intensify  the  feeling  in  Price's  interest,  the  chair- 
man had  made  the  mistake  of  assigning  the  floor  to  another 
speaker  by  a  private  understanding,  although  it  was 
evident  that  Price  had  addressed  him  first.  The  speaker 
to  whom  the  floor  was  thus  assigned  fumbled  with  his 
manuscript  till  his  time  was  up,  and  made  nothing  clear. 
During  the  five  minutes  thus  wasted  the  audience  had 
been  swelling  with  impatience,  and  when  Price  made  the 
second  attempt  to  get  the  floor  the  unanimous  call  for 
him  indicated  to  the  chairman  that  they  did  not  intend 
to  be  cheated  again.  As  his  clear  voice  rang  out  over 
that  vast  assembly  in  most  polished  English,  he  was  heard 
in  all  the  committee  rooms,  and  committees,  breaking  off 
from  their  work,  stopped  and  asked  each  other,  ' '  Who  is 
it  that  is  creating  such  extraordinary  enthusiasm?  "  The 
committee  rooms  were  soon  deserted,  and  the  doorways 
leading  to  them  were  filled  with  delegates  who  had  left 
their  work  in  the  committees  to  seej%io  or  what  manner 
of  man  it  was  who  had  set  the^  aference  wild  with 
pleasing  emotions.  Five  minute^t^SBbefore  seemed 
to  pass  so  quickly,  and  when  the'chairm*am's  gavel  fell 
the  audience  cried  with  one  voice,  "Go  on."  Nor  did 
they  cease  until  the  chairman  stated  that  Mr.  Price  had 
too  great  a  sense  of  propriety  and  was  too  orderly  to  go 
on  contrary  to  rule.  A  little  later,  however,  on  the 
same  day,  Price  again  got  the  floor,  and  we  had  another 
explosion.  So  it  continued  until  the  Conference  closed. 
He  was  the  favorite  of  the  audience,  and  the  sound  of 
his  voice  was  the  signal  for  the  wildest  enthusiasm,  no 
matter  how  dull  the  session  may  have  been  before  he 
began  to  speak. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       467 

At  Bristol  a  grand  reception  was  given  to  the  dele- 
gates from  abroad  in  a  hall  which  held  three  thousand 
five  hundred  people.  Price  was  kept  back  for  the  last 
speaker  so  as  to  hold  the  audience.  It  is  hard  work  to 
hold  an  English  audience  after  nine  o'clock.  Bishops 
Peck  and  Walden  and  other  white  men  spoke.  Bishop 
Walden's  speech  was  a  little  lengthy,  and  some  became 
impatient  and  started  to  go ;  but  when  he  closed  and 
Price  arose  (about  ten  o'clock)  you  would  have  thought 
that  the  roof  was  coming  off  the  house.  Those  who  had 
started  out  turned  back,  and  when  he  stopped  they 
repeatedly  cried,  "  Go  on,"  though  it  was  nearly  eleven 
o'clock. 

On  his  way  to  England  the  bishop  who  had  chosen 
him  as  delegate  informed  him  of  his  purpose  in  selecting 
him,  namely,  that'* he  might  make  use  of  his  (Price's) 
oratorical  powers  in  raising  at  least  ten  thousand  dollars 
for  Zion  Wesley  Institute.  Price  thought  for  a  while, 
and  finally  agreed  *to  undertake  it.  We  know  it  cost 
him  a  struggle,  fb^fe  had  other  plans  in  his  own  mind. 
He  had  intended  ^pending  several  months  in  Europe 
seeing  the  Old  World  and  lecturing  in  his  own  interest. 
There  might  have  been  more  money  in  that  for  him  at 
that  time,  but  we  all  know  now  that  he  took  the  wisest 
course.  In  fact,  it  was  his  good  fortune  generally  to 
take  the  wisest  course.  His  action  in  this  case  was  the 
more  honorable  because  the  connection  had  furnished  no 
money  to  send  him.  The  money  he  received  from  Mr. 
Dodge  for  his  temperance  work  in  North  Carolina  sup- 
plied him  the  means  for  this  trip,  which  he  thought  he 
was  taking  for  his  own  personal  benefit.     We  presume  he 


468  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

remembered  how  his  friends  in  the  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference had  stood  by  him,  advancing  him  step  by  step, 
and  also  the  honor  conferred  in  his  appointment  as  a 
delegate  to  this  great  Conference,  which  had  given  him 
a  great  opportunity ;  and  his  fine  sense  of  gratitude  due 
for  what  had  been  done  for  him  forbade  his  refusing  this, 
the  first  thing  he  had  ever  been  asked  to  do  for  the 
Church. 

We  have  no  doubt  he  also  called  to  mind  how  pleased 
his  mother  would  be  to  know  that  he  was  at  work  for  the 
Church,  for  which  work,  to  prepare  him,  she  had  sacrificed 
so  much. 

When  we  requested  certain  Wesleyan  ministers  to  form 
a  board  and  take  charge  of  his  financial  efforts  in  Eng- 
land, they  hesitated  on  account  of  his  youth  and  bril- 
liancy, and  the  fact  that  the  ladies  were  so  charmed 
by  his  eloquence.  And  it  is  a  fact  beyond  question 
that  no  other  man  in  all  the  four  hundred  delegates  was 
so  much  a  favorite  as  he.  But  we  pledged  them  our 
honor  for  his  good  conduct.  From  his  boyhood  we  re- 
garded him  as  a  model  of  purity  and  honor,  and  we  were 
willing  to  put  our  honor  at  stake  for  his  good  behavior. 
They  accepted  the  bond  and  took  charge  of  his  work ; 
and  when  it  was  finished  and  he  had  returned  to  this 
country,  the  president  of  the  board  wrote  us  that  Mr. 
Price  had  fulfilled  our  word  and  vindicated  our  honor ; 
that  he  had  watched  him  personally,  and  had  the  testi- 
mony of  others  that  there  was  not  the  smallest  variation 
from  the  reputation  we  had  given  him.  He  went  further, 
and  spoke  of  Price's  ability  as  an  orator  of  an  extraordi- 
nary order.     To  give  us  an  idea  of  his  estimate,  he  said : 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      469 

"  He  is  not  an  orator  of  the  American  type,  but  that  of 
a  cultured  Englishman."  Intensely  English  as  he  was, 
he  could  have  said  nothing  stronger. 

We  told  Price  that  we  wanted  him  to  raise  at  least  ten 
thousand  dollars,  and,  including  what  was  given  him  on 
traveling  expenses  while  in  England,  he  raised  just  that 
amount.  We  were  assured  that  if  he  had  remained  longer 
he  could  have  raised  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  It 
was  our  hope  to  have  him  go  back  and  raise  the  balance. 
The  state  of  his  health,  of  which  he  had  been  fully  sensible 
for  many  months,  was  the  main  thing  that  prevented 
him ;  he  was  doubtful  whether  he  could  stand  another 
voyage  across  the  ocean.  We  hope  some  one  will  yet 
rise  up  to  complete  that  work. 

While  Mr.  Price  was  in  England  the  news  of  his  suc- 
cess reached  this  country,  and  the  white  people  of  Salis- 
bury, hearing  of  our  purpose  to  establish  a  college, 
offered  one  thousand  dollars  if  we  would  locate  in  that 
city.  This  offer  was  accepted,  and  the  present  location 
was  purchased  with  money  raised  by  Price,  added  to 
the  one  thousand  dollars  subscribed  by  the  white  people 
of  Salisbury. 

Mr.  Price  returned  in  the  fall  of  1882,  and  was  elected 
president.  He  secured  from  the  Legislature  an  amend- 
ment changing  its  title  from  "  Zion  Wesley  Institute"  to 
"  Livingstone  College." 

During  the  first  six  years  of  Price's  management  of 
the  institution,  associated  with  Bishop  Harris,  it  pos- 
sessed a  religious  power  beyond  any  institution  that  we 
have  ever  known.  Bishop  Harris's  great  piety  in  the 
schoolroom    and    Dr.    Price's    force   of     character,    both 


470  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

within  and  without  the  institution,  constituted  a  religious 
force  which  sin  itself  seemed  powerless  to  resist. 
Scarcely  could  any  one,  male  or  female,  go  there  and  not 
embrace  religion.  We  speak  without  fear  of  successful 
contradiction  when  we  assert  that  it  is  the  best  of  all  the 
schools  in  the  land  established  for  the  education  of  the 
Negro.  Others  are  good  on  one  or  more  lines ;  this  is 
good  on  every  line. 

Dr.  Price  enforced  the  idea  of  an  education  which  in- 
cluded the  culture  of  the  head,  the  hand,  and  the  heart ; 
and  you  will  see  his  impress  upon  his  students  if  you 
watch  them,  scattered  as  they  already  are  in  various 
parts  of  this  broad  land. 

Dr.  Price  had  not  the  power  to  read  character  quickly, 
but  he  could  soon  discover  by  practical  tests  whether  or 
not  a  man  was  suited  to  the  work ;  and  he  had  the 
courage  to  tell  a  teacher  that  he  must  adapt  himself  to 
the  peculiar  demands  of  the  situation  as  he  understood 
it,  or  give  it  up.  This  ability  to  discover  quickly  a  man's 
capacity  by  practical  tests  atohed  for  his  lack  of  power 
to  read  character  at  sight. 

Dr.  Price  was  not  only  an  educator ;  he  was  deeply  in- 
fatuated with  a  desire  for  the  elevation  of  his  race,  and 
the  school  was  to  him  simply  a  means  to  that  end.  His 
lectures,  his  essays,  his  sermons,  and  his  social  inter- 
course were  all  charged  with  the  same  holy  mission.  We 
used  to  regard  him  as  especially  a  splendid  lecturer ;  we 
were  disappointed  in  the  effect  of  his  sermon  at  Hastings, 
England  (the  only  one  we  heard  him  preach  in  that 
country) ;  it  was  well  prepared  and  clearly  delivered,  but 
it  did  not  seem  to  affect  the  audience  as  we  had  hoped  it 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      47 1 

would.  They  were  attentive,  but  not  responsive,  as  they 
had  been  in  the  morning  service.  The  trouble  was,  it 
lacked  the  usual  pathos  that  was  expected  by  an  English 
audience  in  a  Negro  preacher's  discourse.  But  his  pathos 
increased  as  time  wore  on,  and  in  later  days  his  preach- 
ing became  as  eloquent  and  enthusiastic  as  his  lecturing, 
and  the  last  sermon  we  heard  him  preach  was  a  master- 
piece, both  in  matter  and  the  power  of  its  delivery.  We 
have  seldom  heard  its  equal  from  any  man's  lips,  and 
have  never  heard  it  excelled. 

Dr.  Price's  end  was  not  unexpected  to  himself,  and 
there  were  a  few  of  his  friends  who  were  warned  of  the 
sad  coming  event.  Six  months  or  more  before  his  death 
a  distinguished  doctor  in  Boston  said  that  he  had  Bright's 
disease,  and  that  his  case  was  incurable ;  that  the  end 
might  come  at  any  time,  and  certainly  would  within  a 
few  months.  When  we  met  him  at  the  Commencement 
last  May  we  noticed  that  he  was  losing  flesh  rapidly  and 
seemed  feeble,  and  at  times  wore  an  expression  which 
produced  sadness  in  us.  We  felt  a  strong  sympathy  for 
him  at  that  time. 

Early  in  July,  1893,  we  met  him  at  Elizabeth  City;  he 
seemed  better  and  spoke  with  much  of  his  usual  eloquence 
and  power ;  but  the  last  of  August,  after  his  stroke  of  pa- 
ralysis, we  saw  him  again  and  realized  that  the  end  was 
fast  approaching.  On  the  10th  of  October  we  met  him  in 
Philadelphia,  and  we  took  supper  together  for  the  last 
time.  He  had  been  to  Saratoga  for  a  month  by  the  ad- 
vice of  a  physician  in  New  York,  who  had  told  him  to 
come  back  to  see  him  at  the  end  of  a  month.     He  had 

done  so,  but  received  little  encouragement,  and  was  on 
32 


472  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

his  way  home  to  die.  He  talked  cheerfully  about  his 
condition  and  about  the  outlook  for  the  connection  and 
its  several  interests.  He  was  especially  pleased  at  the 
appointment  which  had  just  been  made  to  the  church  in 
Boston.  We  felt  then  that  we  should  never  see  him 
again  in  this  life. 

We  know  of  no  man  who  has  accomplished  so  much  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind  and  for  his  own  imperishable 
glory  in  so  short  a  period.  Like  a  splendid  meteor  he 
blazed  and  flashed  and  passed  away ;  but  unlike  that,  he 
has  left  behind  him  a  monument  which  shall  endure  for 
ages,  yea,  till  time  shall  be  no  more. 

Dr.  Price  is  not  dead,  but  sleepeth ;  there  is  no  death 
for  such  a  man.  John  says  he  was  told  to  write, 
' '  Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord  from  hence- 
forth :  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,  that  they  may  rest  from 
their  labors;  and  their  works  do  follow  them."  The 
institutions  they  establish  or  advance  continue ;  their 
works  go  on,  and  still  go  on ;  the  movements  which  they 
set  in  motion  roll  on  with  ever-increasing  magnitude 
and  velocity,  like  the  river  which  is  made  up  of  innu- 
merable smaller  streams  which  empty  into  it,  increasing 
the  volume  of  its  waters  till  it  empties  into  the  ocean 
and  is  there  swallowed  up. 

We  see  a  Fenderson,  a  Colbert,  a  Stitt,  a  Bloice,  a  Cald- 
well, a  Blackwell — all  the  outcome  of  Price's  work — 
keeping  the  ark  moving,  pushing  on  the  work  which 
Price  so  well  begun.  They  are  the  results  of  his  work- 
manship; they  live,  and  he  still  lives  in  them,  as  in 
others  also  who  have  come  out  from  the  same  institution. 
Thus,  in  the  language  of  the  angel  which  talked  with 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      473 

John  from  heaven,  "his  works  do  follow  him;  "  and 
looking  down  the  untold  ages,  as  the  fruits  of  the  labors 
of  the  countless  numbers  of  others,  trained  by  those  wljo 
have  been  trained  by  him,  shall  appear  upon  the  stage  and 
perform  their  parts,  still  carrying  on  the  blessed  work  of. 
lifting  up  humanity  and  conveying  gladness  to  the 
hearts  of  men,  we  have  an  exhibition  of  the  wonderful, 
work  of  this  great  man.  No,  Price  is  not  dead  ;  he  lives.; 
in  the  men  he  labored  to  make,  and  will  live  on  in  the- 
men  they,  in  their  turn,  labor  to  make ;  and  on  and 
still  on  the  stream  of  his  usefulness  will  roll  through 
time  until  time  is  swallowed  up  in  the  ocean  of  eter- 
nity. Eternity  alone  will  tell  the  size  of  the  movement 
set  in  motion  and  so  faithfully  advanced  by  his  untiring 
efforts. 

However  strange  his  early  departure  may  appear  to 
us,  God  knows  why  it  was  best.  For  about  a  year,  accord- 
ing to  the  best  information  we  have,  Dr.  Price  had  been 
almost  continually  preaching  from  one  text,  "It  is  ex- 
pedient for  you  that  I  go  away:  if  I  go  not  away,  the 
Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you."  We  all  know  that 
this  was  the  language  of  Jesus  to  his  disciples.  But  it 
may  be  that  the  Holy  Spirit  thus  moved  upon  Dr.  Price 
to  warn  us  of  his  own  departure. 

In  New  Berne,  last  November,  at  the  place  where  he 
commenced  his  ministry,  he  preached  from  this  text, 
and  it  was  the  last  that  he  ever  preached  in  that  place. 
On  his  last  visit  to  Elizabeth  City,  the  place  of  his  birth, 
he  preached  from  this  same  text  and  bade  them  farewell 
forever.  The  last  sermon  we  heard  him  preach  was 
preached  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  and  that  was  his  text.     We 


474  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

were  struck  with  the  wonderful  power  with  which  he  de- 
livered that  discourse  in  a  hall  the  sound  of  which  was  so 
bad  that  it  was  almost  killing  for  any  one  to  preach. 

In  our  shortsightedness,  and  in  -our  propensity  to 
praise  those  we  love,  some  of  us  have  said  that  Price's 
place  cannot  be  filled,  and  so  it  seems  to  finite  mortals. 
But  are  we  not  in  danger  of  being  chargeable  of  limiting 
the  infinite  One?  Great  as  Price  was,  God  can  give  us 
his  equal  if  he  chooses  to  do  so.  We  must  remember  that 
God  gave  us  Price.  We  think  that  his  place  can  never 
be  filled ;  we  truly  hope  that  in  this  we  are  mistaken.  We 
have  faith  that  in  God's  good  providence  he  has  some- 
thing in  store  for  us  of  which  we  have  no  conception. 
Who  knows  but  that  the  sympathy  for  the  institution 
caused  by  the  apparently  untimely  death  of  its  distin- 
guished president  may  induce  some  one  to  come  forward 
with  means  to  endow  the  institution  ?  In  such  a  case  we 
should  easily  realize  the  force  of  his  text,  "It  is  expe- 
dient for  you  that  I  go  away."  However  this  may  be, 
what  we  may  consider  as  his  dying  words  and  the  good- 
ness of  God  will  lead  us  to  hope  and  expect  more  from 
his  death  than  could  have  come  from  a  longer  life. 
Hence  we  shall  humbly  bow  in  submission  to  the  will  of 
Him  who  doeth  all  things  well. 

We  have  been  severely  tempted  at  times  to  complain  of 
this  strange  providence,  but  are  thankful  to  say  that  faith 
has  gotten  the  victory.  With  our  departed  brother  we 
feel  that  all  must  be  well.  He  rests  from  that  anxiety, 
that  burden  of  care,  which  he  carried  for  about  ten  years, 
and  no  mortal  knows  how  heavy  it  was.  The  sunshine 
in  his  nature    prevented  him   from  showing   to   others 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      475 

what  he  felt  himself ;  but  he  is  now  really  and  truly  at 
rest. 

"  The  eyes  he  so  seldom  could  close, 

By  sorrow  forbidden  to  sleep, 
Now  wrapped  in  immortal  repose 

Have  strangely  forgotten  to  weep." 

We  might  mention  two  lessons  that  can  be  learned  from 
the  life  and  character  of  our  deceased  brother.  First, 
the  importance  of  having  a  purpose  in  life  and  stick- 
ing to  it.  Dr.  Price  was  subject  to  many  allurements, 
many  temptations  to  turn  aside  from  his  God-appointed 
work.  Distinguished  men  in  other  Churches  sought 
to  draw  him  off  by  promises  to  do  better  by  him  than 
Zion  Connection  could  do.  Politicians  tried  to  use  him 
to  their  purposes.  He  could  have  had  a  collectorship 
at  one  time,  possibly  a  seat  in  Congress,  and  was  offered 
the  position  of  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  a  foreign 
court,  as  the  representative  of  this,  the  greatest  gov- 
ernment on  the  face  of  the  globe.  But  he  put  these 
things  aside  and  went  on  with  his  own  work.  His  admir- 
ers made  him  appear  as  a  candidate  for  the  episcopal  office, 
and  we  feared  at  one  time  that  they  had  succeeded  in  gain- 
ing his  consent ;  but  at  the  critical  moment  he  arose  to 
the  dignity  of  the  brave  and  true  man  of  God  that  he 
was  and  bade  defiance  to  his  tempters,  declaring  his  pur- 
pose to  stick  to  that  work  to  which  he  had  consecrated 
his  life.  He  declined  each  and  all  these  offers  with  an 
apparent  ease  that  was  truly  surprising.  He  had  a  work, 
and  nothing  could  turn  him  aside  from  it. 

The  second  lesson  to  which  we  refer  that  may  be  learned 
from  his  life  and  character  is,  that  it  is  not  necessary  for 
a  man  to  be  a  white  man  in  order  to  receive  due  credit 


47^  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

for  his  merit.  Many  colored  men  have  been  discouraged 
because  they  have  seen  no  hope  of  reaching  the  object  of 
their  desires.  Many  years  ago  a  brother  of  ours  left 
this  country,  never  to  return,  he  said,  because  there  was 
no  chance  for  a  black  man  here.  Whatever  ground  there 
may  have  been  for  this  feeling  in  the  past,  we  learn  from 
the  success  Dr.  Price  had  in  overcoming  "  Negrophobia  " 
that  success  may  be  attained. 

When  Dr.  Price  made  his  first  great  speech  before  a 
white  audience  in  Raleigh,  N.  C,  in  1881,  there  was  a 
man  present  who  would  hardly  have  put  himself  to  the 
trouble  of  going  to  hear  a  Negro  speak.  He  told  us 
soon  afterward  of  his  experience  on  that  occasion.  It 
was  an  assembly  of  the  temperance  workers  of  the  State, 
composed  largely  of  the  best  men  and  women  of  the  old 
North  State.  After  several  of  the  most  distinguished 
white  orators  of  the  State  had  addressed  that  convention 
there  were  calls  from  all  parts  of  the  house  for  "  Price, 
Price,  Price!"  This  gentleman  said  that  he  did  not 
know  "  Price,"  had  never  heard  of  him  before;  he  sup- 
posed, of  course,  that  the  man  the  audience  called  for 
was  some  white  man :  but  imagine  his  surprise  when  he 
saw,  as  he  put  it,  "a  great  big  black  Negro,  with  very 
white  teeth,"  walking  up  the  aisle.  As  the  speaker 
stepped  upon  the  platform,  faced  the  audience,  and  began 
to  speak,  this  gentleman  said  to  himself,  "  Now  Webster 
will  catch  it ;  and  as  for  the  ladies,  what  will  become  of 
them?"  He  was  almost  beside  himself  with  fear  that 
something  uncouth  or  unbecoming  would  be  heard.  His 
suspense  was,  however,  of  very  short  duration,  for  the 
speaker  had  not  uttered  a  half  dozen  sentences  before  the 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       477 

fear  of  the  gentleman  referred  to  had  given  place  to  aston- 
ishment. The  black  speaker  was  delivering,  in  the  best 
of  English,  one  of  the  most  eloquent  discourses  to  which 
it  had  ever  been  his  privilege  to  listen.  He  turned  to 
the  man  who  sat  next  to  him  and  saw  that  his  mouth  was 
wide  open,  and  that  he,  like  himself,  was  spellbound  by 
the  Negro's  matchless  eloquence.  This  man  was  a  county- 
superintendent  of  education,  and  had  long  been  acknowl- 
edged as  one  of  the  leading  educators  of  that  section,  and 
therefore  was,  we  think,  a  very  competent  judge.  He  ad- 
mitted that  Price  had  convinced  him  of  the  capacity  of 
the  Negro,  and  changed  his  ideas  respecting  the  race. 
During  the  same  campaign  Dr.  Price  spoke  at  Durham, 
which  was  one  of  the  most  intensely  Democratic  cities  in 
the  State.  Several  distinguished  white  speakers  spoke 
on  that  occasion ;  but,  as  was  almost  always  the  case, 
Price  was  the  favorite  speaker  of  the  day. 

Knowing,  as  we  do,  the  power  of  that  silly  caste  senti- 
ment which  holds  sway  over  a  vast  portion  of  the  white 
people  in  some  sections,  preventing  them  from  rising  to 
the  height  of  their  own  real  greatness  of  soul,  we  regard 
the  treatment  which  Dr.  Price  received  from  the  white 
people  of  the  South  as  simply  marvelous.  On  one  occa- 
sion, at  Spartanburg,  S.  C,  Dr.  Price  was  invited  to  ad- 
dress the  students  of  a  white  institution.  An  institution 
of  learning  in  that  section  is  about  the  last  place  where  a 
black  man  is  expected  to  be  found,  except  as  a  servant. 
In  some  States  there  is  a  law  forbidding  the  coeducation 
of  the  races.  We  are  not  quite  certain  that  it  was  not  a 
violation  of  the  spirit  of  the  laws  of  South  Carolina  for 
Price  thus  to  deliver  words  of  instruction  to  white  stu- 


478  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

dents  (as  the  laws  in  many  places  forbid  the  teaching  of 
white  schools  by  colored  teachers).  But  whoever  thought 
of  law,  or  anything  else,  when  it  stood  in  the  -way  of 
hearing  Dr.  Price?  The  students  of  that  institution 
voted  him  a  gold-headed  cane,  raised  the  money  and 
bought  it,  and  had  to  hurry  to  the  railroad  station  to  pre- 
sent it  to  him  on  the  platform  while  he  awaited  the  com- 
ing of  the  train. 

At  his  funeral  four  of  the  leading  white  lawyers  of 
Salisbury,  asked,  and  were  permitted,  to  act  as  pall-bear- 
ers. When  we  were  holding  memorial  services  in  the 
Central  North  Carolina  Conference,  Dr.  Poole,  ex-Presi- 
dent of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  was  offered  an 
opportunity  to  make  a  few  remarks.  He  said,  in  part, 
that  we  claimed  Price,  as  we  had  a  right  to  do,  because 
he  was  a  colored  man,  to  which  he  did  not  object ;  but  he 
could  not  admit  that  we  had  an  exclusive  claim.  He, 
too,  claimed  Price.  We  claimed  him  because  he  was  a 
colored  man ;  he  claimed  him  because  he  was  a  man,  a 
great  and  good  man,  a  splendid  specimen  of  our  common 
humanity,  a  most  useful  citizen  of  the  State  of  North 
Carolina,  an  American  citizen  who  had  given  his  life  in 
the  interest  of  his  State  and  nation.  He  claimed  him 
also  because  they  had  a  common  birthplace ;  they  both 
first  saw  the  light  of  life  in  the  same  city — Elizabeth  City, 
N.  C,  was  the  birthplace  of  both  these  distinguished  col- 
lege presidents. 

Hon.  G.  C.  Montgomery,  a  leading  Democrat  of  Con- 
cord, N.  C,  where  the  Conference  was  held,  was  also 
offered  an  opportunity  to  speak,  which  he  embraced  ;  and 
so  great  were  his  emotions  that  he  could  not  speak  calmly. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.      479 

He  was  one  of  those  who  were  captured  by  the  eloquence 
of  Dr.  Price  in  that  first  great  speech  at  Raleigh  in  1881, 
and  the  spell  was  still  upon  him. 

If  ever  one  man  exhibited  affection  for  the  memory  of 
another  Mr.  Montgomery  exhibited,  in  that  speech,  his 
affection  for  the  memory  of  Dr.  Price.  His  manner  and 
remarks  indicated  very  much  more  than  mere  respect  for 
a  man  or  admiration  of  his  eloquence.  No  other  word 
but  that  which  we  have  used,  ' '  affection,"  can  express  the 
feeling  exhibited  by  Mr.  Montgomery.  He  showed  that 
he  was  not  simply  amused  by  Dr.  Price's  wit,  or  enrap- 
tured by  his  oratory,  but  he  seemed  to  regard  Dr.  Price 
as  his  ideal  of  splendid  manhood.  Southern  Democrat 
as  he  was,  with  all  his  fancied  superiority  of  the  white 
race,  the  color  of  Dr.  Price's  skin  did  not  count  at  all ;  he 
saw  no  color — he  saw  simply  the  orator,  the  statesman, 
the  great  leader  who  did  what  he  could  to  make  the 
world  better  while  he  stayed  in  it,  and  to  leave  behind 
him  an  example  worthy  of  imitation.  Mr.  Montgom- 
ery voiced  the  sentiments  of  thousands  of  the  best  white 
men  in  the  Southland ;  and  the  sentiments  of  the  best 
white  women  have  not  been  publicly  voiced,  except  in 
showers  of  bouquets  lavished  upon  the  deceased  on  many 
occasions. 

The  fact  has  been  mentioned  that  not  a  newspaper  in 
all  the  land,  as  far  as  known,  has  published  a  sentence 
except  in  his  praise.  We  think  it  may  be  said  that  few  dis- 
tinguished men  of  this  or  any  other  age  have  received  so 
little  unfavorable  criticism  as  Dr.  Price.  We  repeat  that 
from  him  we  learn  the  lesson  that  it  is  not  necessary  for 
a  man  to  be  white  to  get  due  credit  for  real  worth. 


480  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Price  was  certainly  a  black  man.  To  see  anything 
white  about  him  we  should  have  to  size  him  up  as  a  col- 
ored sister  sized  up  Sam  Jones.  She  said,  "Brother 
Jones,  I  loves  to  hear  you  preach ;  you  preaches  just  like 
a  nigger;  your  face  is  white,  but  your  heart  is  black." 
If  a  white  person  wanted  to  compare  Dr.  Price  with  him- 
self in  color,  he  would  have  to  make  the  comparison  on  his 
heart,  and  not  on  his  face.  J.  W.  Hood. 

REV.   ELI  GEORGE    BIDDLE. 

Eli  George  Biddle,  of  the  New  England  Conference, 
son  of  James  E.  and  Sarah  J.  Biddle,  was  born  at  Black 
Rock,  Pa. ,  January  7,  1 844.  His  father  having  been  killed 
in  a  railroad  accident,  he  accompanied  his  mother  to  Prov- 
idence, R.  I.,  in  1858,  attended  school  there  for  a  short 
time,  then  was  sent  to  Boston,  Mass.,  and  learned  the 
trade  of  sign  and  fancy  painting. 

He  was  converted  and  joined  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  Boston  during  the  pastorate  of 
Rev.  Sampson  Talbot ;  shortly  afterward  he  enlisted  in 
Company  A  of  the  54th  Regiment,  Massachusetts  Volun- 
teer infantry,  and  served  his  country  till  the  close  of  the 
civil  war,  being  severely  wounded  at  the  battle  of  Fort 
Wagner,  July  18,  1863.  Returning  to  Boston  in  1865,  and 
listening  to  the  admonition  of  Miss  Eliza  A.  Gardner,  the 
present  New  England  Vice  President  of  the  Woman's 
Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society,  who  was  then,  as 
now,  an  active  laborer  for  souls,  he  reentered  upon  the 
church  work,  was  soon  after  made  church  clerk,  and  in  1 87 1 
was  elected  superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  which 
position  he  retained  until  1883.    During  these  twelve  years 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       48 1 

the  Sunday  school  of  Zion  Church,  Boston,  was  the  largest 
and  in  many  respects  the  most  efficient  of  the  schools  of 
the  race  in  New  England.  In  1881  he  received  a  local 
preacher's  license  from  the  hands  of  Rev.  R.  H.  G.  Dy- 
son,   D.D. ;  in  1883  joined  the  New  England   Annual 


REV.    E.    G.    B1DDLE. 


Conference,  and  was  sent  by  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  to  the 
charge  at  Attleboro,  Mass.,  ordained  deacon  in  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  by  Bishop  Jones  in  1884,  and  by  him  or- 
dained elder  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  June,  1885.  After 
three  years'  successful  pastorate  in  Attleboro  he  was 
appointed  to  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  at  the  expiration  of 


482  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

three  years'  successful  labor  was  appointed  by  Bishop 
Hood  to  the  New  Haven  Church,  where  he  served  five 
years.  May  14,  1894,  he  was  appointed  by  Bishop  Hood 
to  the  charge  of  Zion  Church,  Jersey  City. 

In  Attleboro,  the  membership  was  increased  from  eight 
to  sixty-four,  and  an  embarrassing  debt  liquidated.  In 
Worcester  the  membership  was  more  than  doubled.  In 
New  Haven  outstanding  indebtedness  was  removed  and 
the  church  thoroughly  repaired  at  an  expense  of  nearly 
$2,000,  which  was  paid,  the  running  expenses  met,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  church  gave  more  than  twice  as 
much  to  the  general  connectional  interests  as  ever  be- 
fore ;  the  membership  was  nearly  doubled,  and  the 
church  held  the  lead  of  the  six  or  seven  colored  churches 
of  the  city. 

During  this  pastorate  he  was  a  close  and  diligent 
student  in  Yale  Divinity  School,  completing  the  full 
course  in  the  theological,  and  pursuing  special  studies  in 
philosophy  and  ethics  in  the  academical  department. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  was  married  September  1, 
1873,  to  Sarah  E.,  youngest  daughter  of  Rev.  William  H. 
Decker,  of  Newburg,  N.  Y.,  and  he  has  found  in  his 
wife  a  true  helpmeet. 

HON.    JOHN   C.    DANCY. 

John  Campbell  Dancy  was  born  in  slavery  at  Tarboro, 
N.  C,  May  8,  1857.  He  early  exhibited  a  thirst  for 
education,  and  was,  therefore,  immediately  after  the 
close  of  the  war,  put  under  the  instruction  of  the  best 
teachers  from  the  North.  His  father,  John  C.  Dancy,  Sr., 
was  a  skilled  mechanic,  and  was  the  leading  builder  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH. 


483 


contractor  of  the  county.  By  reason  of  his  intuition, 
genius,  and  foresight  he  became  a  county  commissioner, 
the  most  responsible  and  honorable  office  in  the  gift  of 


HON.    J.    C    DANCY. 


the  county.  Hence  he  kept  his  son  constantly  in  school, 
determined,  as  he  expressed  it,  "  to  make  a  man  of  him." 
Young  Dancy  did  not  disappoint  his  father.     He  studied 


484  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

hard  and  led  every  class  he  entered  without  apparent 
difficulty — finding  as  much  time  for  play  as  any  other 
student — and  he  prided  himself  on  his  ability  as  an 
athlete.     The  teachers  never  had  any  trouble  with  him. 

In  1873  he  entered  the  printing  office  of  the  Tarboro 
Southerner,  a  white  Democratic  newspaper,  as  office  boy, 
but  was  soon  given  a  case  by  direction  of  the  foreman,  a 
Scotchman,  and  in  a  few  months  he  was  an  acknowl- 
edged acceptable  "typo."  The  sentiment  of  the  white 
press  of  the  State  was  decidedly,  yea,  unanimously, 
against  this  state  of  things,  and  so  expressed  itself. 
Consequently  Dancy  left  the  office  and  entered  school  at 
Howard  University,  Washington,  D.  C.  He  soon  won 
an  enviable  position  in  his  class  there,  but  had  to  leave 
after  a  short  stay,  owing  to  the  sudden  death  of  his 
father.  He  returned  home  and  applied  himself  to  teach- 
ing and  study,  though  only  seventeen  years  of  age. 
Through  the  influence  of  Hon.  John  A.  Hyman  he  was 
appointed  to  a  position  in  the  Treasury  Department  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  which  he  filled  acceptably  until  he 
resigned,  in  order  to  return  South  and  assist  in  the  eleva- 
tion of  his  people.  In  the  interim,  however,  he  had  con- 
tinued his  studies  at  Howard  University.  The  resigna- 
tion astonished  many  of  his  intimate  friends,  as  it  is 
rarely  the  case  that  a  person  ever  resigns,  unless  asked 
to  do  so ;  but  his  resignation  was  voluntary,  as  the  accept- 
ance of  the  same  shows.  He  is  strict  in  his  attendance 
upon  religious  service,  delights  to  beg  for  money  for 
Church  purposes,  and  always  has  a  regular  class  at 
Sunday  school,  which  he  credits  largely  for  any  suc- 
cess he  has  had   in   life.      He  loved  his  mother  with  a 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      485 

devotion  bordering  on  worship,  and  when  she  died,  in 
December,  18  91,  he  was  powerless  to  overcome  the  shock 
for  a  long  while.  She  was  his  guide  and  counselor 
always.  He  was  secretary  of  the  State  Convention  of 
Colored  Men  held  at  Raleigh,  N.  C,  in  1887,  and  chief 
secretary  of  all  the  State  Republican  conventions  held  in 
the  State  since  1880,  including  1880,  1884,  1886,  1888, 
and  1890.  The  general  verdict  is  that  as  a  reading 
clerk  he  has  but  few,  if  any,  superiors.  All  these  con- 
ventions except  the  first  named  were  composed  chiefly 
of  white  men.  He  was  president  of  the  convention  of 
colored  men  held  at  Goldsboro,  in  1881,  to  consider  the 
all-absorbing  question  of  placing  colored  men  on  the  jury 
in  all  the  counties  of  the  State.  His  speech  on  that 
occasion  attracted  wide  attention.  He  opposed  ring  rule 
in  his  county,  and  led  the  opposition  which  resulted  in 
its  overthrow  in  1878.  Two  years  later  he  was  elected 
Register  of  Deeds  of  Edgecombe  County  by  over  two 
thousand  majority,  leading  all  the  tickets,  both  State  and 
national.  His  canvass  that  year  as  the  leader  of  his 
party  was  one  of  the  most  memorable  in  the  history  of 
the  county,  and  the  victory  was  correspondingly  complete. 
He  was  reelected  in  1882,  but  was  defeated  in  1884, 
owing  to  a  split  in  the  party.  It  seemed  to  be  a  year  of 
disaster  to  the  best  Republican  hopes  almost  everywhere. 
He  was  the  chairman  of  the  Republican  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  Edgecombe  County  for  eight  years,  and  always 
led  the  party  to  certain  victory.  He  claimed  to  be  the 
original  Blaine  Republican  of  the  State,  having  declared 
at  once  for  him  on  hearing  his  memorable  speech  against 
giving  amnesty  to  Jefferson  Davis  in  the  House  of  Repre- 


486  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

sentatives  in  the  winter  of  1876.  In  later  years  his  love 
for  the  Maine  statesman  greatly  abated,  owing  to  the 
latter's  indifference  to  the  recognition  of  colored  men  in 
official  positions. 

Mr.  Dancy  has  been  a  member  of  three  National  Re- 
publican conventions.  In  1888  he  represented  the  State 
at  large  in  the  memorable  convention  held  at  Chicago. 
He  received  the  highest  vote  of  any  man  running,  a 
majority  of  the  convention  being  white  men,  and  several 
whites  running  against  him.  He  seconded  the  nomina- 
tion of  General  John  A.  Logan  at  Chicago  in  1884  and 
of  Hon.  John  Sherman  in  1888,  and  on  each  occasion 
captivated  the  convention  by  his  eloquence  and  ringing 
sentences.  Hon.  Frederick  Douglass  declared  his  speech 
in  favor  of  Mr.  Sherman  one  of  the  best  he  had  heard, 
and  ex-Governor  Foraker,  who  also  spoke,  declared  it 
"timely,  able,  and  brilliant."  The  newspapers  paid 
him  many  high  compliments. 

During  the  campaign,  by  direction  and  request  of  the 
National  Committee,  he  canvassed  the  white  districts 
of  the  western  part  of  Virginia,  and  also  Tennessee  and 
West  Virginia,  to  assist  in  allaying  color  prejudice, 
and  the  people  turned  out  to  hear  him  by  the  thou- 
sands. He  spoke  day  and  night,  and  made  a  favorable 
impression  everywhere. 

In  1892,  by  request  of  the  National  Republican  Execu- 
tive Committee,  he  canvassed  Illinois,  Ohio,  and  Indiana, 
and  met  an  ovation  everywhere.  At  the  capitol  in 
Springfield,  111.,  the  home  of  Lincoln,  the  daily  papers 
pronounced  his  speech  one  of  the  grandest  delivered 
there  during  the  campaign. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZlON    CHURCH.       487 

During  President  Harrison's  administration  he  was 
indorsed  by  a  convention  of  colored  men  of  his  native 
State  for  minister  to  Hayti.  His  merits  and  valuable 
services  were  not  rewarded  by  this  appointment,  but  by 
the  appointment  as  collector  of  customs  at  the  port  of 
Wilmington,  N.  C.  This  office  had  not  been  held  by  a 
colored  man  before,  and  the  fact  that  Mr.  Dancy's  ap- 
pointment to  it  met  the  approval  of  black  and  white  Re- 
publicans alike  attested  his  popularity  with  his  party. 
He  easily  furnished  the  required  bond,  $40,000.  The 
significant  part  about  this  was  that  his  bondsmen  were 
colored  men.  Mr.  Dancy  held  the  office  three  years. 
Upon  turning  the  office  over  to  his  successor  the  highest 
praise  was  given  him  for  his  management  of  affairs. 
There  was  no  adverse  criticism  of  any  kind,  and  Dem- 
ocratic officials  testified  that  there  was  no  office  in  the 
Treasury  Department  with  a  better  record. 

Mr.  Dancy  went  abroad  in  1879  as  a  delegate  from  his 
State  to  the  Right  Worthy  Grand  Lodge  of  Good  Tem- 
plars, and  was  elected  marshal  of  that  body.  He  attended 
the  previous  meeting  in  Boston,  in  1878,  when  he  first 
heard  the  great  orator,  Wendell  Phillips,  welcome  the 
body  to  Boston. 

He  spoke  at  the  great  Henrique's  Cirque  in  Liverpool, 
with  Joseph  Malins,  the  well-known  temperance  advocate, 
and  Rev.  George  Gladstone,  of  Scotland,  nephew  of  the 
great  English  statesman,  to  about  five  thousand  people, 
and  at  Crystal  Palace,  in  London,  with  Dr.  Talmage, 
where  forty  thousand  people  were  assembled.  He  lec- 
tured extensively  in  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Wales.     He  afterward  lectured  in  his  native  State. 

33 


488  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Mr.  Dancy  is  considered  the  most  prominent  layman 
in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  He 
has  helped  to  make  the  laws  of  this  Church  in  four  Gen- 
eral Conferences.  Twice  have  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  and  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Churches 
met  through  representatives  in  joint  commission  to  for- 
mulate a  platform  upon  which  they  might  unite.  The 
first  meeting  proved  futile,  so  far  as  desirable  results 
were  concerned.  The  second  has  shared  a  similar  fate. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  commission  in  each  case,  and 
ably  represented  his  Church.  He  was  chosen  editor  of 
the  Star  of  Zion  by  the  Board  of  Bishops  in  1885,  after 
having  successfully  edited  the  North  Carolina  Sentinel  at 
Tarboro  for  three  years.  He  was  unanimously  reelected 
by  the  General  Conference  at  New  Berne,  in  May,  1888 
— a  high  compliment  to  a  layman,  indeed.  He  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Centennial  Conference  of 
Methodism  which  met  at  Baltimore  in  December,  1884, 
but  could  not  attend. 

At  the  General  Conference  in  Pittsburg,  1892,  he  re- 
signed the  editorship  of  the  Star  of  Zion,  being  succeeded 
by  Rev.  George  W.  Clinton.  However,  he  was  urged  to 
become  editor  of  the  African  MetJwdist  Episcopal  Zion 
Quarterly,  which  had  been  founded  and  edited  by  Rev. 
Clinton. 

Twice  has  he  delivered  the  annual  address  to  literary 
societies  of  Livingstone  College,  the  last  time  repre- 
senting Colonel  Alexander  McClure,  editor  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Times,  who  could  not  be  present. 

The  most  recent  honors  bestowed  upon  him  by  his 
Church  were  his  election  as  trustee  of  Livingstone  College, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       489 

to  succeed  the  late  Bishop  Moore,  and  his  being  made 
general  manager  of  the  Centennial  Jubilee  to  be  held  at 
New  York  in  September,  1896. 

He  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Miss 
Laura  G.  Coleman,  of  Morganton,  N.  C,  a  most  beautiful, 
lovable,  and  accomplished  young  lady.  Five  children 
were  the  result  of  this  happy  union,  two  boys  and  three 
girls ;  two  girls  died  in  infancy.  Mr.  Dancy  sustained  a 
great  loss  in  the  untimely  death  of  his  first  wife  in 
December,  1890.  In  March,  1893,  he  married  Miss 
Florence  Virginia  Stevenson,  another  very  beautiful  and 
accomplished  lady  of  Allegheny  City,  Pa.  She  is  a  most 
amiable  lady,  a  perfect  queen  in  the  home,  and  her  rare 
literary  talents  contribute  greatly  to  the  success  of  his 
journalistic  pursuits. 

When  he  took  charge  of  the  Star  of  Zion  it  was  an 
obscure  sheet,  but  the  brightness  of  his  editorials  soon 
brought  it  into  national  prominence,  and  to-day  it  is  con- 
sidered one  of  the  leading  journals  of  the  race.  As  editor 
of  the  Quarterly  he  sustains  his  reputation  of  being 
naturally  adapted  to  journalism.  He  is  in  great  demand 
as  a  public  speaker,  and  well  sustains  his  reputation 
wherever  he  is  heard.  He  is  now  chairman  of  the  Exec- 
utive Committee  of  the  National  Afro-American  Press 
Association. 

He  is  a  close  student  and  reads  the  best  literature  and 
newspapers.  His  editorials  evince  careful  preparation 
and  mature  thought.  He  takes  great  delight  in  defend- 
ing his  race  against  the  aspersions  and  criticisms  of  its 
enemies,  and  in  this  he  is  a  foeman  worthy  of  the  best 
of  their  steel. 


49°  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

GENERAL  CONFERENCE  DELEGATES. 

The  following  are  the  delegates  by  Conferences  to 
the  latest  General  Conference  in  the  order  of  organ- 
ization : 

New  York. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  Jacob  Thom- 
as, D.D.  ;  R.  H.  Stitt,  M.  A.  Bradley,  Adam  Jackson, 
George  E.  Smith.  Lay  Delegates,  Benjamin  Judd,  Fannie 
B.  Vanbrunk. 

Philadelphia  and  Baltimore. — Ministerial  Delegates, 
Revs.  J.  W.  Smith,  J.  B.  Small,  D.D. ;  J.  E.  Price,  J. 
H.  Anderson,  Thomas  H.  Scott,  Logan  Johnson,  G.  W. 
Offley,  D.D.  ;  R.  H.  G.  Dyson,  D.D.  ;  J.  S.  Cowles.  Lay 
Delegates,  John  Henry  Butler,  J.  E.  Rodgers. 

New  England. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  N.  J. 
Green,  D.D. ;  S.  C.  Birchmore,  G.  L.  Blackwell,  E. 
George  Biddle.  Lay  Delegates,  J.  B.  Colbert,  G.  H.  S. 
Bell. 

Allegheny. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  Jehu  Holli- 
day,  G.  W.  Clinton,  A.B.  Lay  Delegates,  J.  P.  Young, 
H.  P.  Derrett. 

Genesee. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  P.  A.  L.  Hu- 
bert, S.T.B.  ;  J.  E.  Mason,  W.  A.  Ely.  Lay  Delegates, 
H.  J.  Callis,  H.  H.  Coleman. 

North  Carolina. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  John 
Hooper,  R.  H.  Simmons,  J.  H.  Steward,  S.  B.  Gaskill, 
W.  J.  Soloman,  A.  McL.  Moore,  O.  L.  W.  Smith,  F.  K. 
Bird,  L.  R.  Ferrebee,  W.  J.  Moore,  A.  F.  Moore,  W.  H. 
Thurber,  L.  B.  Williams,  A.  G.  Oden.  Lay  Delegates, 
P.  H.  Davis,  Virgil  A.  Crawford. 

Louisiana. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  Solomon  John- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       49 1 

son,  Logan  W.  Oldfield,  Joseph  Seales,  John  W.  Eason. 
Lay  Delegates,  Hattie  James,  T.  Butler. 

Kentucky. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  E.  H.  Curry, 
D.D.  ;  J.  B.  Johnson,  W.  H.  Chambers,  G.  B.  Walker, 
R.  T.  Anderson,  W.  A.  Walker,  J.  M.  Washington. 
Lay  Delegates,  Professor  W.  H.  Lawson,  J.  B.  Foster. 

Tennessee. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  W.  H.  Fer- 
guson, T.  J.  Manson,  F.  M.  Jacobs,  A.B.,  B.D.  ;  B.  M. 
Gudger,  A.  G.  Kessler,  B.  J.  Jones,  J.  H.  Manley,  D.D.  ; 
J.  W.  Wright,  E.  J.  Carter,  T.  F.  H.  Blackman,  M.  M. 
Montgomery,  P.  E.  Lay  Delegates,  Professor  R.  E.  Too- 
mey,  John  Burns. 

Virginia. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  R.  A.  Fisher, 
D.D.  ;  C.  W.  Winfield,  J.  S.  Caldwell,  A.M.;  W. 
H.  Newby,  T.  R.  V.  Harrison,  H.  B.  Pettigrew,  M.  N. 
Levy,  J.  McH.  Farley.  Lay  Delegate,  James  M.  B. 
Holmes. 

South  Carolina. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  T.  P. 
R.  Moore,  M.  Ingram,  F.  Killingsworth,  J.  A.  Jackson, 
W.  M.  Robinson,  Y.  J.  P.  Cohen,  N.  A.  Crockett,  R. 
A.  McCreary,  J.  B.  Ellis,  J.  H.  Jackson,  R.  W.  E.  Wilson. 
Lay  Delegates,  Professor  W.  R.  Douglas,  A.B.  ;  S.  E. 
Fewell. 

Georgia. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  J.  A.  Peak,  J. 
W.  Mills,  S.  Hall.  Lay  Delegates,  Samuel  Brown,  Wade 
Collins. 

Alabama. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  W.  G.  Strong, 
J.  W.  Cooper,  J.  W.  Alstork,  H.  P.  Shuford,  M.  G. 
Thomas,  T.  A.  Weathington,  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D.  ;  J.  J. 
Taylor,  T.  L.  Holt,  A.  J.  Rodgers,  A.  S.  Watkins,  Mat- 
thew Jackson,  Allen  Hannon,  L.  A.  Oliver,  Joseph  Gomaz, 


492  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

William  Finley,  S.  Deny,  C.  C.  Allison,  C.  Jermon,  J.  T. 
McMillan,  C.  L.  W.  Hamilton,  R.  L.  Boyd,  L.  S.  Peter- 
son, A.  L.  Green.      Lay  Delegates,  H.  Fewell,  H.  Judkins. 

California. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  J.  H.  Brown, 
Tilghman  Brown.  Lay  Delegates,  Mrs.  J.  V.  Campbell, 
Mrs.  E.  E.  Davis. 

Florida. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  W.  H.  Smith, 
S.  L.  McDonell,  B.  F.  Stevens.  Lay  Delegates,  James 
Brown,  E.  P.  West. 

West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi. — Ministerial  Dele- 
gates, Revs.  W.  L.  Carr,  J.  P.  Meacham.  Lay  Delegates, 
M.  Clough,  F.  E.  McConico. 

New  Jersey. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  William  T. 
Biddle,  M.  M.  Edmondson,  B.  F.  Wheeler,  A.M.  ;  E.  M. 
Stanton.      Lay  Delegate,  William  H.  Vancleif. 

West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi. — Ministerial  Dele- 
gates, Revs.  W.  L.  Carr,  J.  P.  Meacham.  Lay  Dele- 
gates, M.  Clough,  F.  E.  McConico. 

Bahama. — Not  represented. 

Canada  and  Michigan. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs. 
J.  R.  Alexander,  P.  H.  Williams,  Thomas  Lawrence. 

Central  North  Carolina. — Ministerial  Delegates, 
Revs.  J.  M.  Hill,  G.  H.  Miles,  A.M. ;  J.  W.  Thomas,  J. 
H.  Mattox,  M.  S.  Kell,  R.  Hasty,  J.  E.  McNeil.  Lay 
Delegates,  Professor  E.  Evans,  P.   A.  Miles. 

West  Alabama. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs  William 
Spencer,  F.  A.  Clinton,  M.  L.  Blalock,  C.  H.  Smith, 
S.  Sherman,  B.  Hunter,  A.  R.  Gaines,  A.  G.  Alstork, 
P.  J.  Mcintosh,  A.  B.  Smyor,  W.  J.  Caver,  H.  J.  Storks, 
J.  C.  Saunders,  A.  J.  Warner,-  G.  W.  Gaines.  Lay 
Delegates,  J.  S.  Jackson,  O.  B.  Goshun. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      493 

Arkansas. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  A.  J.  Coleman, 

A.  F.  Goslen,  A.M.  ;  S.  L.  Carruthers.     Lay  Delegates,  M. 
M.  McNair,  A.  H.  Claiborne. 

North  Georgia. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  J.  E. 
Transue,  N.  T.  Hearn,  E.  W.  Gibson.  Lay  Delegates,  J. 
Smith,  J.  H.  Wheeler. 

Texas. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  M.  S.  Jordan,  G.  J. 
Johnson.  Lay  Delegates,  Charles  E.  Griffin,  Mrs.  Laura 
Williams. 

Missouri. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  Smith  Claiborne, 
J.  P.  Thompson,  J.  J.  Moore,  Adam  Wakefield,  D.  J. 
Donohoo.     Lay  Delegates,  Buford  Cates,  Henry  Hall. 

South  Florida. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  Joseph 
Sexton,  J.  N.  Clinton,  W.  C.  Vesta,  George  W.  Maize. 
Lay  Delegates,  James  H.  Hannibal,  Thomas  Simmons. 

North  Louisiana. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  J.  W. 
Johnson,  W.  S.  Davis.  Lay  Delegates,  R.  W.  Williams, 
H.  R.  Watson. 

Western  North  Carolina. — Ministerial  Delegates, 
Revs.  J.  A.  Tyler,  D.D.  ;  M.  V.  Marable,  W.  H.  Goler, 
A.M.,  D.D.;  M.  R.  Franklin,  H.  L.  Simmons,  E.  L. 
Campbell,  G.  H.  Hains,  A.M.  ;  R.  A.  Morrissey,  A.B. 
Lay  Delegates,  Professor  S.  G.  Atkins,  A.M.  ;  J.  T.  Wil- 
liams, M.D. 

PALMETTO. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  E.  Hinton, 
H.  Blake,  S.  T.  Meeks,  R.   E.  Wilson,  S.    R.   Gatteroy, 

B.  F.    Walker.     Lay   Delegates,    J.    H.    Dennis,    R.    B. 
Hemphill. 

Ohio. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  W.  H.  Snowden, 
J.  H.  Trimble,  J.  H.  McMullen.  Lay  Delegates,  Robert 
Holms,  D.  S.  Curtis. 


494  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

South  Mississippi. — Ministerial  Delegates,  Revs.  D.  J. 
Adams,  J.  E.  P.  Marshall.  Lay  Delegates,  M.  W.  Spaight, 
A.  J.  Prindle. 

Total  number  of  Conferences  represented,  29 ;  total 
number  of  ministerial  delegates,  including  bishops  and 
general  officers,  192  ;   lay  delegates,  including  ladies,  64. 

Among  the  lay  delegates  were  several  young  men  of 
very  fine  promise,  among  the  more  conspicuous  of  whom 
were  the  following:  Hon.  J.  C.  Dancy,  Collector  of  the 
Port  of  Wilmington,  N.  C. ;  Professor  S.  G.  Atkins, 
principal  of  the  graded  school  at  Winston,  N.  C. :  H.  B. 
Derrett,  of  Johnstown,  Pa. ;  Professor  P.  H.  Davis,  of 
Beaufort,  N.  C. ;  Professor  W.  R.  Douglas,  of  South 
Carolina;  Professor  R.  E.  Toomey,  of  Greenville  (Tenn.) 
High  School ;    Dr.  J.  T.  Williams,  of  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

The  able  and  distinguished  ministers  were  too  numer- 
ous to  mention.  They  constituted  a  body  of  which  both 
the  Church  and  the  race  at  large  had  a  right  to  be  proud. 
According  to  the  statements  of  the  papers  it  was  by  all 
odds  the  most  orderly  of  the  three  General  Conferences 
then  in  session ;  indeed,  it  would  be  hard  work  to  find  a 
body  of  the  same  size  more  orderly.  There  was  intense 
earnestness,  which  is  to  be  expected  in  a  meeting  of  such 
importance.  Sometimes  the  chairman  creates  confusion 
by  failing  to  decide  quickly  who  has  the  floor  when  several 
arise  nearly  at  one  time.  It  is  the  custom  with  some 
bishops  to  say,  "  I  cannot  decide;  all  be  seated."  They 
sit  down  and  try  it  again  and  again,  and  sometimes  sev- 
eral minutes  are  lost  in  this  way  amid  much  confusion. 
The  fault  in  such  cases  is  in  the  chairman ;  it  is  his  busi- 
ness to  decide  at  once.     If  there  is  an  interesting  discus- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      495 

sion  going  on  he  should  be  careful  not  to  show  favor  to 
either  side.  If  it  is  known  that  he  is  on  one  side  he 
will  need  to  be  specially  careful  not  to  show  favor  to  that 
side.  If  he  guards  this  point  well  his  recognition  of 
members  will  give  general  satisfaction,  even  if  he  should 
make  some  mistakes.  Besides  this,  from  his  position  on 
the  platform,  if  he  is  attentive  to  his  business,  he  will  see 
as  quickly  as  any  one  can  who  arises  and  addresses  him 
first.  It  is  also  the  business  of  the  chairman  to  study  the 
faces  of  the  members,  that  he  may  know  them  and  be 
able  to  announce  the  name  of  the  person  recognized. 

There  were  two  things  done  by  the  General  Conference 
which  were  liable  to  unfavorable  criticism.  The  first  was 
the  election  of  general  secretary  out  of  time.  The  law  pro- 
vides that  the  general  secretary  shall  be  elected  on  the 
last  day  of  the  session.  The  real  object  of  this  law  was 
that  his  term  of  office  should  commence  at  the  close 
of  the  General  Conference,  so  that  if  there  was  a  new 
secretary  elected  the  retiring  one  should  continue  in 
office  till  the  close  of  the  General  Conference.  It  is  easy 
to  see  the  importance  of  this  provision  when  a  new  secre- 
tary is  elected,  and  at  the  same  time  of  how  little  impor- 
tance the  provision  is  when  the  secretary  is  to  succeed 
himself.  Yet  law  is  law,  and  ought  on  all  occasions  to 
be  obeyed.  It  was  claimed  by  some,  after  the  election 
of  the  secretary,  that  the  chairman  ought  to  have  ruled 
the  nomination  out  of  order.  But  they  were  all  in  such 
a  happy  mood  at  that  time,  and  there  was  such  unanimity 
of  sentiment,  that  the  chairman  did  not  care  to  exercise 
that  prerogative  of  his  own  volition.  If  the  point  of 
order  had  been  raised  he  would  have  been  compelled  to 


496  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

rule ;  in  the  absence  of  such  a  demand  he  failed  to  take 
the  responsibility.  Before  the  General  Conference  closed, 
however,  he  had  reason  to  regret  that  he  had  not  kept 
them  strictly  to  the  law ;  for  on  the  closing  day  of  the 
session,  when  more  than  one  half  of  the  members  had 
left,  a  proposition  was  made  to  amend  the  Discipline  in 
order  to  accomplish  a  special  object  which  had  been  de- 
feated a  day  or  so  before,  when  the  house  was  full.  The 
question  of  no  quorum  was  raised,  and  on  actual  count  it 
was  found  that  there  was  not  a  quorum  present.  The 
Discipline  provides  that  "  it  shall  require  a  majority  of 
all  the  delegates  elected  to  the  General  Conference  to 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business." 
The  whole  number,  if  we  include  the  bishops  and  others 
who  are  members  by  virtue  of  their  office,  was  256;  but 
if,  by  strict  construction,  only  those  elected  by  the  An- 
nual Conferences  are  to  be  taken  into  account  in  finding 
a  quorum,  the  whole  number  would  be  230  and  a  busi- 
ness quorum  would  be  116.  There  were  found  to  be 
only  93  present,  including  all  the  bisjiops  and  some  of 
the  general  officers.  Yet  it  was  by  vote  declared  that  the 
93  then  present  was  a  quorum,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General  Conference  that  a  major- 
ity of  the  delegates  in  attendance  at  the  General  Conference  shall  now  and 
hereafter  constitute  a  quorum. 

This  being  adopted,  the  presiding  officer  said  that  since 

the   General   Conference  had  decided  that  there  was  a 

quorum  present  he  ruled  that  the  resolution  pending  was 

adopted.     Following  is  the  resolution  declared  adopted : 

Resolved,  That  within  thirty  days  after  the  adjournment  of  the  General 
Conference  all  circuits  and  stations  held  by  pastors  or  presiding  elders  who 
are  salaried  general  officers  shall  be  declared  vacant. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      497 

The  spirit  of  lawlessness  could  scarcely  be  better  evi- 
denced than  by  these  revolutionary  resolutions.  They 
show  how  one  of  the  most  sedate  and  orderly  bodies  that 
ever  assembled  could  for  a  moment  forget  its  dignity. 
And  why  this  revolutionary  movement?  Simply  to  get 
G.  W.  Clinton  out  of  John  Wesley  Church  two  months 
before  his  year  was  out.  Somebody  else  wanted  the 
charge. 

The  purpose  intended  was  not  accomplished,  and  could 
not  be.  The  trustees  had  a  contract  with  him  for  a  year's 
service ;  they  had  informed  the  bishops  that,  owing  to  the 
expense  incurred  to  support  the  General  Conference, 
they,  with  Clinton,  had  assumed  obligations  which  made 
it  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to  remain  till  the  close  of 
the  Conference  year. 

The  resolution  says  the  charge  shall  be  declared  va- 
cant, but  does  not  say  who  shall  declare  it  vacant.  The 
fact  is,  it  is  generally  possible  to  drive  a  horse  and  wagon 
through  all  such  hasty  and  ill-considered  legislation.  The 
bishop  has  the  appointing  power  in  the  Methodist  Church. 
He  is  expected  to  appoint  according  to  his  godly  judgment. 
If  this  resolution  had  been  in  due  form  and  legally 
adopted,  declaring  John  Wesley  or  any  other  pulpit  va- 
cant at  the  end  of  thirty  days,  there  would  have  been 
nothing  to  hinder  the  bishop  from  filling  the  appoint- 
ment with  Rev.  G.  W.  Clinton  for  the  remaining  two 
months ;  and  unless  he  wanted  to  break  up  that  church 
there  would  have  been  nothing  else  for  him  to  do.  The 
principle  laid  down  that  a  majority  of  those  present  con- 
stitute a  quorum  is  a  very  dangerous  one.  For  if  ninety- 
three  can  declare   a   majority  of  themselves   a   quorum, 


498  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

nine  or  even  three  can  do  the  same.  Any  number  who 
remained  after  a  majority  had  left  might  undo  half  or 
even  all  that  had  been  done.  A  great  deal  of  business 
is  done  in  bodies  without  a  quorum ;  but  the  law  respect- 
ing a  quorum  is  to  prevent  recklessness  in  the  absence  of 
the  majority. 

The  action  failed  to  accomplish  its  purpose  in  this 
case ;  but  the  law  was  permitted  to  be  declared  unani- 
mously set  aside,  because  those  who  saw  the  evil  thought 
it  best  to  let  the  storm  blow  itself  out. 

We  give  below  the  Bishops'  Address. 

BISHOPS'  QUADRENNIAL  ADDRESS. 

Coming  to  the  last  session  of  the  General  Conference  for  the  first  hun- 
dred years  of  our  beloved  connection,  it  seems  fitting  that  we  should  take 
a  glance  backward  over  the  scene  through  which  we  have  passed  in  our 
journey  toward  the  central  point  in  the  history  of  this  branch  of  Immanuel's 
army. 

Ninety-six  years  ago  the  most  important  event  which  has  ever  taken 
place  in  the  history  of  the  African  race  in  America  transpired  in  the  city 
of  New  York,  namely,  the  organization  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.  This  was  not  like  some  other  movements  which  took  place 
about  that  time,  or  a  little  later,  which  simply  resulted  in  the  formation  of 
colored  members  into  a  church  under  the  control  of  a  white  organization. 
The  St.  Thomas  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Philadelphia  was  possibly 
formed  before  the  Zion  Church  in  New  York,  but  was,  when  formed,  and 
still  is,  a  colored  church  in  a  white  organization.  The  Colored  Methodist 
Church  at  the  corner  of  French  and  Ninth  Streets,  Wilmington,  Del.,  was 
formed  in  1806,  but  it  was  then  and  still  is  a  part  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  and  under  the  control  of  white  bishops. 

The  Bethel  Church  in  Philadelphia  was  organized  about  1809,  but  it  was 
organized  in  the  name  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  remained 
under  the  white  bishops  till  1816.  Zion  was  not  founded  as  a  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  but  as  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  As 
such  it  entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  in 
which  contract  two  distinct  and  independent  bodies  were  recognized  as 
early  as  the  year  1801. 

The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  then  a  corporate  body. 
Zion  was  not  a  part  of  its  corporate  title  at  that  time,  but  was  the  local 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.     499 

name  of  the  first  church.  Soon  after  there  were  other  churches  formed, 
which  were  served  by  our  colored  preachers.  First  among  them  was  the 
Asbury  Church  in  the  city  of  New  York.  There  was  also  a  church  at 
Flushing,  on  Long  Island.  These  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  present  wide- 
extended  organization.  This  was  the  commencement  of  that  race  move- 
ment which  has  culminated  in  the  establishment  of  independent  organiza- 
tions among  the  colored  people  of  most  of  the  leading  denominations. 
Up  to  1864,  the  period  at  which  the  connection  started  upon  its  rapid 
growth,  there  had  only  been  five  bishops  who  gave  such  satisfaction  as  to 
be  retained  in  active  service  until  removed  by  death  or  retired  by  reason  of 
physical  disability.  Varick  and  Galbraith  had  fallen  upon  the  field  of 
battle ;  Rush  had  been  retired  because  of  the  loss  of  his  eyesight,  and  was 
very  aged  and  in  feeble  health,  etc. ;  Bishop  and  Clinton  were  still  on  the 
field  of  battle. 

Up  to  that  time  six  Conferences  had  been  formed,  as  follows :  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  New  England,  Alleghany,  Tennessee,  and  the  South- 
ern, which  included  Baltimore  and  Washington  city.  In  all,  206  ministers 
had  been  enrolled,  of  whom  92  were  still  living ;  the  number  of  members 
was  about  5,000.  There  were  less  than  one  hundred  churches.  The 
value  of  church  property  was  about  $200,000.  Of  the  ninety-two  minis- 
ters then  on  the  roll,  there  remain  to-day  only  fifteen,  as  follows  :  Bishops, 
J.  J.  Moore,  J.  P.  Thompson,  and  J.  W.  Hood;  Elders,  W.  H.  Decker, 
Jacob  Thomas,  Jeptha  Barcroft,  James  H.  Smith,*  Peter  Coster,*  Clinton 
Leonard,  John  Thomas,  N.  Williams,  Jehu  Holliday,  R.  H.  G.  Dyson, 
Henry  Dumpson,  W.  T.  Biddle,  Thomas  Harris,  and  R.  R.  Morris. 

During  the  years  1863-64  J.  W.  Hood,  Wilber  G.  Strong,  John  Wil- 
liams, and  David  Hill  were  sent  to  the  South  as  missionaries.  Hill  lived 
only  a  few  months  after  reaching  North  Carolina,  and  John  Williams  was 
not  a  success.  The  work  during  those  years  was  mainly  carried  on  by  Hood 
and  Strong,  one  in  North  Carolina  and  the  other  in  the  far  South.  The 
North  Carolina  Conference  was  formed  in  1864,  and  out  of  it  the  South 
Carolina  and  Virginia  Conferences  were  formed  in  1866.  The  Louisiana 
Conference  was  formed  in  1865,  and  out  of  it  Alabama  and  Georgia  Con- 
ferences were  formed  in  1867.  William  F.  Butler  was  sent  to  Kentucky, 
and  that  Conference  was  formed  in  1866.  Since  that  time  seventeen  Con- 
ferences have  been  formed,  as  follows :  The  two  Florida  Conferences,  a 
second  Georgia  Conference,  the  Palmetto  Conference,  the  Central  and 
Western  North  Carolina  Conferences,  the  two  Tennessee  Conferences,  the 
Arkansas  Conference,  the  second  Louisiana  Conference,  the  Texas  Confer- 
ence, the  California  Conference,  the  Missouri  Conference,  the  Ohio  Con- 
ference, the  New  Jersey  Conference,  the  Canada  and  Michigan  Conference, 
the  South  Mississippi  Conference,  and  the  Oregon  Conference.     One  of  the 

*  Since  deceased. 


500  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

original  six,  the  Southern  Conference,  has  been  consolidated  with  the 
Philadelphia  Conference,  forming  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence. We  have  at  this  time  twenty-nine  Conferences  ;  we  have  also  the 
nucleus  of  Conferences  in  Liberia  and  in  the  Bahama  Islands. 

This  increase  of  five  hundred  per  cent  in  the  number  of  Annual  Confer- 
ences indicates  about  the  increase  in  membership.  In  every  other  respect, 
however,  the  advance  has  been  much  greater.  In  1863  the  only  thing  we 
had  in  the  way  of  a  Church  organ  was  the  Anglo- African,  simply  indorsed 
by  the  connection.  The  whole  of  the  Book  Concern  was  carried  about  in 
the  agent's  trunk  ;  we  had  not  even  the  nucleus  of  a  college  or  high  school 
of  any  kind  ;  we  had  no  financial  system,  and  not  even  a  single  general 
officer  with  a  fixed  salary. 

We  have  now  the  Star  of Zion,  which  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  equal 
of  any  religious  paper  published  by  the  race,  with  several  others  published 
by  our  ministers  in  different  parts  of  the  connection. 

Our  Livingstone  College  stands  at  the  head  of  colored  educational  insti- 
tutions, and  there  are  several  other  institutions  of  ours  which  promise  well 
for  the  future.  We  have  now  a  Book  Room  which  is  a  credit  to  the  con- 
nection. We  have  an  original  financial  system  without  a  single  borrowed 
feature,  complete  in  all  its  parts,  and  only  needing  loyal  obedience  to  its 
requirements  by  our  ministers  and  members  to  make  it  yield  all  the  means 
needed  to  meet  all  our  immediate  demands. 

In  place  of  the  self-taught  preachers  of  1863  we  have  now  a  considerable 
number  of  cultured  theologians.  In  place^of  a  few  old-fashioned  houses  of 
worship  we  have  now  hundreds  of  temples.  Our  Church  was  then  hardly 
known,  except  in  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Baltimore,  and 
Washington  city.  Now  it  is  known  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  was  the 
very  first  to  contribute  its  full  quota  in  support  of  the  second  Ecumenical 
Conference,  for  which  it  was  specially  commended  by  the  chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee.  It  furnished  the  only  colored  layman  who  read  an 
address  before  that  body,  an  address  acknowledged  to  be  the  equal  of  any 
one  delivered.  It  furnished  the  first  colored  president  of  that  body,  and 
there  are  only  three  of  the  sixteen  branches  of  Methodists  on  this  side  of 
the  ocean  which  have  a  larger  number  of  the  committee  to  arrange  for  the 
next  meeting.  The  three  bodies  which  have  a  larger  representation  are 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada. 

We  now  proceed  to  lay  before  you  in  a  more  detailed  manner  the  present 
condition  of  the  Church  by  districts  as  reported  by  the  episcopal  officers  in 
charge  during  the  last  quadrennium.  In  doing  so  it  becomes  our  painful 
duty  to  record  the  demise  of  the  brilliant  and  eloquent  bishop  who  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Second  Episcopal  District,  Right  Rev.  Singleton 
Thomas  Webster  Jones,  D.D.     After  a  severe  illness  of   many  months 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       501 

this  distinguished  leader  of  Zion's  hosts  departed  this  life  on  April  18, 
1891,  at  the  ripe  age  of  sixty-six  years.  The  Board  of  Bishops,  then  in 
session  in  Philad.elphia,  adjourned  in  deference  to  his  memory,  and  at- 
tended the  funeral  at  Washington,  D.  C,  in  a  body. 

The  Conferences  comprising  the  Second  District  were  severally  placed  in 
charge  of  Bishops  J.  W.  Hood,  C.  C.  Pettey,  and  C.  R.  Harris,  and  their 
condition  will  be  reported  by  three  episcopal  functionaries  in  connection 
with  the  districts  assigned  them. 

Since  the  General  Conference  will  want  to  construct  its  own  expression 
respecting  the  removal  of  our  distinguished  colleague,  we  will  not  anticipate 
what  may  be  said  by  any  eulogistic  remarks  at  this  point. 

FIRST    DISTRICT. 

This  is  the  smallest  of  all  the  districts.  It  is  composed  of  three  Confer- 
ences, including  four  presiding  elders'  districts,  as  follows  :  New  York,  1  ; 
New  England,  1  ;  Virginia,  2.  It  is  as  convenient  for  travel  as  could 
possibly  be  desired.  If  necessary  one  half  as  much  more  could  be  added 
without  making  it  too  large.  Collected  for  all  purposes  during  the  four 
years,  $271,367.65.  Probable  value  of  church  property,  $417,110.  It  would 
be  hard  work  to  find  anywhere  a  better  state  of  affairs  than  that  which 
prevails  in  this  district.  There  is  complete  harmony  and  good  feeling 
and  a  manifest  interest  in  whatever  tends  to  the  upbuilding  of  the  connec- 
tion. The  ministers  are  so  well  suited  to  their  work,  and  the  people  are 
so  well  satisfied  with  their  labors,  that  many  of  them  can  remain  any 
number  of  years  in  one  charge,  and  the  matter  of  appointment  gives  the 
bishop  but  little  concern.  In  several  instances  ministers  have  been  peti- 
tioned for,  and  they  have  been  returned  the  fifth  year.  (This  may  seem 
to  some  hardly  in  keeping  with  the  letter  of  the  Discipline,  but  the  bishops 
have  followed  the  idea  that  the  law  is  to  help,  not  to  hinder,  the  work  ; 
and  if  we  rightly  understand  that  clause  in  the  Discipline  which  governs 
appointments  it  is  most  advantageously  used  flexibly.  We  incline  to  the 
opinion  that  the  fathers  built  more  wisely  than  they  knew,  hence  we  have 
not  found  it  necessary  to  change  our  laws,  as  others  have,  to  keep  up  with 
the  necessities  of  the  times.) 

The  ministers  receive  their  appointments,  as  a  rule,  with  a  cheerfulness 
which  indicates  entire  satisfaction,  and  where  there  is  not  enthusiasm  there 
is  a  quiet  acquiescence  which  indicates  entire  confidence  in  the  appointing 
power.  The  bishop  has  confidence  in  the  ministers  and  the  ministers  have 
confidence  in  the  bishop,  and  the  people  have  confidence  in  both,  and  the 
general  belief  is  that  God  inspires  what  is  done.  The  best  evidence  of 
this  is  the  general  prosperity  of  the  work  and  the  fact  that  each  man  seems 
to  get  where  he  can  do  the  most  good.  There  are  a  few  churches  in  this 
district  which  used  to  think  they  could  not  be  suited  at  all  unless  they  were 


502  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS   OF   THE 

allowed  to  choose  their  ministers,  but  they  have  now  given  it  entirely  up  to 
the  bishop  to  exercise  his  godly  judgment.  There  is  not  now  a  single 
church  in  the  district  which  goes  beyond  a  respectful  representation  of 
what  seems  to  be  its  necessities. 

The  idea  of  rejecting  a  minister  sent  from  the  Conference,  which  used  to 
be  common,  is  a  thing  almost  unheard  of  now.  Of  course,  the  bishop  takes 
care  to  inform  himself  of  the  condition  and  wants  of  each  and  every  church, 
and  labors  to  avoid  making  mistakes.  The  bishop  has  been  fortunate  in  the 
selection  of  presiding  elders.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  more  efficient 
elders  than  the  four  that  have  charge  in  this  district.  The  fact  that  we 
hear  no  objection  to  the  system  coming  from  this  district  is  the  best  evi- 
dence of  their  efficiency.  It  is  only  necessary  to  get  the  right  men  into 
that  office  to  stop  the  clamor  against  it  by  reasonable  men. 

Some  men  never  will  believe  that  the  yoke  of  Christ  is  easy,  because  the 
one  they  are  wearing,  which  is  heavy,  is  not  his.  Such  are  wolves  in 
sheep's  clothing,  and  their  barking  exhibits  their  true  character. 

To  the  true  Methodist  minister  the  presiding  elder's  yoke  is  an  easy  one, 
and  its  burden  rests  lightly  upon  the  faithful.  At  least  such  is  the  senti- 
ment in  the  First  District,  and  it  may  be  attributed  somewhat  to  the  sagac- 
ity and  faithfulness  of  the  presiding  elders  who  labor  there. 

A  considerable  number  of  new  houses  of  worship  have  been  erected 
during  the  last  quadrennium.  Some  have  been  finished  and  others  have 
been  remodeled,  and  still  others  are  in  course  of  erection  or  materials  are 
being  got  together  for  that  purpose.  Quite  one  half  of  the  more  than 
$270,000  raised  has  been  spent  in  this  direction. 

At  Providence,  R.  I.,  the  old  church  which  was  on  the  side  of  the  town 
where  but  few  colored  people  live,  and  was  expensive  to  reach,  has  been 
sold  and  a  lot  purchased  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  near  a  point  at  which  a 
half  dozen  street  car  lines  converge.  It  can  be  reached  from  any  direction 
by  paying  a  single  five-cent  fare.  It  is  near  enough  to  be  reached  by  a  few 
minutes'  walk  by  members  who  used  to  have  to  pay  sixty  cents  each  Sab- 
bath, if  they  went  three  times  a  day.  The  average  saving  to  each  member 
will  be  at  least  one  half  of  that  amount.  If  we  include  the  congregation 
the  saving  by  this  change  will  amount  to  at  least  $90  per  Sabbath,  or 
$4,680  a  year.  This  amount  of  car  fare  saved  would  in  a  few  years  pay 
for  a  fine  church,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast  increase  in  the  congregation, 
which  may  be  expected  in  the  more  convenient  location.  The  lot  has  been 
paid  for,  the  plan  for  a  new  building  drawn,  and  between  $3,000  and 
$4,000  raised  for  building.  The  work  will  be  commenced  when  $5,000  is 
in  hand.  This  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important  enterprises 
in  which  we  are  now  engaged,  as  it  will  put  Zion  in  the  lead  of  all  the  col- 
ored churches  in  that  growing  city. 

The  long-standing  debt  on  the  church  at  Boston  has  been  paid  off,  and 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       503 

they  are  proposing'  to  greatly  improve  the  church,  which  is  in  a  most 
healthy  and  growing  condition. 

A  nice  little  church  has  been  built  at  Meriden,  Conn.,  where  for  many 
years  we  have  been  struggling  to  maintain  a  mission,  ofttimes  with  uncer- 
tain prospects.  Just  when  the  prospect  seemed  most  hopeless  to  the  bishop 
and  Conference,  Presiding  Elder  Green  took  up  a  local  preacher  and  sent 
him  there.  He  built  a  church  and  is  now  serving  his  third  year,  where 
two  or  three  preachers  failed  in  one  year. 

We  are  now  in  a  fair  way  to  redeem  the  second  church  at  Providence, 
R.  I ,  which  was  lost  some  years  ago  by  mismanagement. 

The  church  at  New  Haven,  Conn.,  has  been  greatly  improved  at  a  cost 
of  more  than  $2,000,  and  is  now  the  leading  colored  church  in  that  city, 
not  only  in  numbers,  but  also  in  the  moral,  intellectual,  and  religious  tone 
of  its  congregation. 

The  church  at  Derby,  Conn.,  has  been  finished  and  paid  for. 

At  Waterbury,  Conn.,  a  parsonage  has  been  erected  and  the  church 
greatly  improved. 

At  Port  Chester,  N.  Y.,  a  splendid  church  has  been  erected  at  a  cost  of 
more  than  $5,000,  and  entirely  paid  for.  Also  a  very  fine  parsonage,  on 
which  there  is  only  a  small  indebtedness.  A  few  months  before  the  ap- 
pointment of  the  pastor  who  led  in  this  great  work  the  people  were  appar- 
ently hopelessly  discouraged ;  but  they  are  now  among  the  most  happy 
and  hopeful  congregations  in  the  connection. 

The  church  at  Poughkeepsie  has  been  remodeled  at  a  cost  of  about 
$3,000,  and  is  now  a  beautiful  structure.  Zion  has  long  had  her  own  way 
without  let  or  hindrance  in  Poughkeepsie,  and  still  holds  her  own. 

A  beautiful  little  new  church  has  been  built  at  Hempstead,  L.  I.  This 
was  the  last  great  effort  of  Rev.  Anthony  Jackson,  of  whom  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  in  another  place. 

Four  years  ago  the  Fleet  Street  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  was  in  a  very 
uncertain  condition.  It  was  the  one  thing  in  the  district  which  caused  the 
bishop  most  concern.  Order  has  been  brought  out  of  confusion.  The 
church  has  been  greatly  improved  and  is  now  the  leading  congregation  in 
that  city. 

Dr.  Thomas,  who  had  charge  of  the  Bridge  Street  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  four  years  ago,  and  had  the  finest  congregation  in  the 
city,  says  he  was  up  there  on  a  visit  not  long  since,  and  seeing  only  a  small 
congregation  there  he  asked  where  all  the  people  were,  and  was  informed 
that  Stitt  had  them  around  at  Zion. 

The  church  at  Sag  Harbor  has  also  been  greatly  improved,  and  is  in 
better  condition  than  it  has  been  for  many  years. 

A  very  nice  parsonage  has  been  built  at  New  Rochelle. 

At  the  New  York  Conference,  which  sat  in  New  York  city  in  1888,  the 
?,4 


504  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

trustees  of  Old  Zion  Church  requested  the  bishop  to  go  to  the  General 
Conference  and  find  them  a  new  man.  They  said  they  had  made  a  simi- 
lar request  when  S.  T.  Jones  (afterward  bishop)  was  sent  to  them,  and  no 
man  since  his  time  had  equaled  him.  The  church  had  run  down  in  con- 
gregation and  behind  in  finance,  until  they  were  many  thousand  dollars  in 
debt.  Bishop  Payne,  in  his  History,  says  that  Bethel  Church,  in  that  city, 
is  the  leading  church  there.  We  cannot  say  that  that  statement  was  not 
true  when  it  was  written,  but  it  is  not  true  to-day.  Old  Zion  has  regained 
her  rightful,  place  as  the  leading  church  in  that  city  as  a  religious  power. 
Zion  connection  has  not  the  strength  in  that  city  that  she  ought  to  have, 
considering  the  lead  she  once  had.  She  ought  to  have  a  half  dozen 
churches  there;  but,  considering  how  much  was  lost  by  mismanagement, 
the  improvement  made  in  the  last  four  years  is  simply  wonderful.  The 
church  has  been  improved  at  a  cost  of  more  than  $5,000,  and  is  now  the 
finest  church  in  the  connection. 

In  the  Virginia  Conference  a  parsonage  has  been  bought  at  Petersburg 
at  a  cost  of  $1,500,  and  yet  that  long-standing  debt  has  been  reduced  about 
one  third. 

The  new  brick  church,  which  was  in  course  of  completion  at  Norfolk 
four  years  ago,  is  now  not  half  large  enough  for  the  congregation,  and  a 
fine  lot  in  a  better  location  has  been  obtained,  on  which  a  tabernacle  has 
been  erected  which  will  hold  fifteen  hundred  people.  This  has  been 
crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  When  a  brick  church  has  been  erected 
upon  this  spot,  and  paid  for,  there  will  be  no  church  in  the  city  to  exceed 
it  in  progressive  Christianity.  This  is  the  only  enterprise  in  the  district  for 
which  the  bishop  feels  called  upon  to  make  special  appeal.  Norfolk  is 
destined  to  be  a  great  Southern  city.  Our  people  are  going  there  by  hun- 
dreds from  eastern  North  Carolina,  and  we  should  have  accommodation  for 
them.  For  the  want  of  this  some  years  ago  many  of  our  best  members, 
from  other  points,  joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  are 
now  among  their  best  members.  Some  have  come  home  ;  but  with  the  help 
of  hundreds  of  our  members  Bethel  has  built  a  very  fine  and  very  large 
church  there.  We  cannot  expect  them  to  come  home  while  we  have  not 
room  in  the  church  for  one  half  of  our  members.  As  many  as  three  hun- 
dred have  been  turned  away  at  one  service  for  want  of  room.  We  ought 
to  have  the  General  Conference  there  in  1896,  but  will  hardly  be  ready  by 
that  time.  However,  if  the  connection  will  help  them  to  build  a  metro- 
politan church  on  Lincoln  Street  they  may  easily  be  ready  four  years 
later. 

The  lot,  for  which  we  only  had  a  conditional  deed,  in  Portsmouth,  Va., 
has  been  secured  by  deed,  in  fee  simple.  A  fine  church  has  been  erected 
upon  it,  and  the  prospect  is  brighter  than  ever  before. 

The  church  in  Berkeley  has  been  remodeled,  enlarged,  and  improved. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       505 

This  makes  three  churches  on  the  Norfolk  Bay,  where  eight  years  ago  we 
had  nothing  but  missions. 

A  new  church  has  been  erected  at  Moyock,  N.  C. ;  and  the  church  at 
Good  Hope,  which  stood  for  ten  or  fifteen  years  in  an  unfinished  state,  has 
now  been  completed. 

The  church  at  Elizabeth  City  has  been  rebuilt,  and  is  now  one  of  the 
prettiest  churches  in  eastern  Carolina. 

The  church  at  Bay  Branch  has  also  been  remodeled,  and  takes  rank 
among  the  first  churches. 

A  fine  new  church  has  been  built  at  that  notable  place,  Jamesville,  N.  C. 

The  church  at  Macedonia  has  been  completed  and  beautified. 

The  church  at  Hamilton,  N.  C,  has  been  finished. 

A  new  church  has  been  built  at  Williamston,  N.  C. 

A  church  has  been  built  in  Chowan  County,  N.  C,  known  as  Cannon 
Chapel,  which  is  a  very  fine  church. 

There  are  also  churches  in  course  of  erection  at  several  other  points  in  the 
Virginia  Conference,  the  exact  stage  of  which  we  are  not  prepared  to  give. 

The  district  mourns  the  loss  of  several  distinguished  ministers.  Ex- 
superintendent  Peter  Ross,  whose  name  is  found  on  the  Minutes  as  far 
back  as  1834,  and  who  was  the  first  missionary  sent  to  Rhode  Island,  has 
passed  away,  falling  at  the  place  where  his  ministerial  labors  were  so 
effectual  in  his  early  life. 

Rev.  G.  H.  Washington,  a  member  of  the  New  England  Conference  for 
more  than  thirty  years,  has  also  passed  away. 

Rev.  John  F.  Loyd,  a  member  of  the  Conference  for  about  the  same 
period,  has  gone  to  his  reward. 

Rev.  W.  B.  Smith  was  not  quite  so  long  in  the  ministry,  yet  he  was  quite 
an  old  man — about  eighty.  He  also  has  joined  the  ranks  of  the  redeemed 
on  the  other  shore. 

Rev.  Joseph  G.  Smith  joined  the  New  England  Conference  in  1858,  was 
a  long  time  a  member  of  that  Conference,  served  some  time  in  the  New 
York  Conference,  returned  to  New  England  Conference,  and  was  finally 
transferred  to  the  Canada  Conference  in  1890,  but  only  lived  a  few  months 
after  reaching  his  last  appointment. 

Rev.  G.  M.  Given  was  cut  down  in  his  youth. 

In  the  New  York  Conference  Rev.  Silas  Mitchel,  a  father  in  Israel,  and 
one  of  the  best  men  living  for  many  years,  has  bid  us  adieu  and  gone  up 
higher. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Brown,  who  died  at  his  post  in  Brooklyn,  was  one  of  the 
ablest  preachers  in  that  Conference.  He  was  a  member  of  the  last  Gen- 
eral Conference,  and  gave  faithful  attention  to  business. 

Rev.  Anthony  Jackson,  who  was  the  last  victim  of  death  in  that  district, 
was  also  a  member  of  the  last  General  Conference,  and,  although  not  a 


506  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

delegate  to  this  Conference,  he  intended  to  be  here,  if  only  to  look  on.  The 
last  four  years  of  his  life  were  the  most  successful.  The  beautiful  church 
which  he  erected  at  Hempstead  stands  as  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

In  the  Virginia  Conference,  Rev.  W.  H.  Pitts,  who  was  with  us  at  the 
last  General  Conference,  has  finished  his  work.  He  was  one  of  those  who 
began  ministerial  work  before  the  war.  He  also  entered  upon  the  work  in 
the  South  at  its  early  stage.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Conference 
from  its  organization  till  his  death,  except  a  few  years  that  he  labored  in 
the  North  Carolina  Conference  at  New  Berne  and  Beaufort. 

Rev.  Samuel  Sanderland  was  among  the  first  preachers  of  the  Virginia 
Conference. 

Rev.  J.  M.  Ferribee  completes  the  list  of  the  victims  of  death  in  these 
Conferences. 

The  character  of  the  men  in  this  district  is  indicated  by  the  work  they 
have  done.  The  efficiency  of  the  presiding  elders  has  already  been  men- 
tioned. Something  praiseworthy  might  be  said  of  nearly  every  minister, 
but  some  have  specially  distinguished  themselves  by  their  work.  It  may 
be  said  of  the  ministers  in  this  district  that,  to  a  very  large  extent,  they 
are  entirely  free  from  the  use  of  intoxicants  as  a  beverage  and  from  nar- 
cotics as  a  habit.  In  the  New  England  Conference  there  is  but  little,  if  any, 
exception  to  this  rule.  The  general  moral  tone  of  all  the  ministers  is  so 
high  that  there  is  seldom  any  necessity  for  a  committee  on  complaints  in 
these  Conferences. 

In  electing  delegates  to  the  General  Conference  the  Conferences  in  this 
district  have  selected  delegates  from  among  the  men  who  have  been  most 
useful.  They  were  not,  however,  entitled  to  a  number  of  delegates  sufficient 
to  exhaust  the  list  of  those  who  have  distinguished  themselves  for  great 
usefulness.  They  could  have  doubled  the  number,  and  still  the  list  would 
not  have  been  exhausted.  Besides  the  three  most  efficient  presiding  elders 
we  have  in  the  list  of  delegates  the  brother  who  paid  off  that  long-standing 
debt  on  the  church  at  Boston ;  the  brother  who  is  redeeming  the  second 
church  at  Providence  ;  the  brother  who  has  improved  and  put  new  life 
into  the  church  in  New  Haven  ;  the  brother  who  built  the  new  church  and 
parsonage  at  Port  Chester  and  the  parsonage  at  New  Rochelle;  the 
brother  who  has  beautified  the  church  at  Tarrytown  ;  the  brother  who  is 
carrying  all  before  him  in  Brooklyn  ;  the  brother  who  has  restored  the 
scepter  to  Old  Zion  Church  in  New  York;  the  brother  who  built  that  beau- 
tiful church  at  Elizabeth  City,  and  now  holds  forth  at  Petersburg  ;  the 
brother  who  finished  and  beautified  the  church  at  Berkeley ;  the  brother 
whose  untiring  efforts  are  making  for  Zion  a  name  in  Norfolk  ;  the  brother 
who  built  the  parsonage  at  Edenton  ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  great 
church  builder,  whose  latest  great  effort  has  been  spent  on  three  churches 
in  one  year  on  the  Jamesville  Circuit. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       S°7 

The  Conferences  have  raised  $1,500  more  on  General  Fund  during  the  last 
two  years  than  ever  before.  In  the  Virginia  Conference  the  increase  in 
one  year  was  thirty-three  per  cent.  The  New  York  Conference  is  the  first 
of  all  the  Northern  Conferences  to  reach  its  quota  of  $700  per  presiding 
elder's  district.  The  New  England  Conference  has  raised  an  amount 
equal  to  fifty  cents  for  every  member,  including  probationers  and  minors, 
and  $54  besides ;  or,  if  probationers  and  minors  were  discounted,  as  is  the 
rule,  it  has  raised  an  amount  equal  to  seventy  cents  per  member. 

SECOND   DISTRICT. 

Since  the  death  of  Bishop  Jones  the  Bishop  of  the  First  District  has  had 
charge  of  the  Alleghany  Conference,  and  hence  the  report  of  that  work 
necessarily  comes  in  at  this  point. 

The  Alleghany  Conference  is  one  of  the  older  Conferences.  It  stands 
fourth  on  the  list,  as  it  was  not  regularly  set  off  until  1849 ;  but  as  early  as 
1829,  when  the  Philadelphia  Conference  was  formed,  this  section  was 
spoken  of  as  the  "  Western  District,"  and  Jacob  D.  Richardson  was  pres- 
ent from  that  district.  During  the  twenty  years  which  elapsed  before  it 
was  regularly  organized  this  part  of  the  State  was  thus  designated. 
Bishops  Galbraith  and  Jones  were  of  this  Conference,  and  many  other 
distinguished  men  have  labored  in  it  in  bygone  years.  The  improvement 
in  this  work  during  the  last  four  years  has  been  very  marked.  Bishop 
Jones  took  pains  to  select  a  number  of  intelligent  and  pious  young  men  to 
fill  the  vacancies  caused  by  death,  superannuation,  and  transfer.  These, 
added  to  the  faithful  veterans,  gave  such  impetus  to  the  work  that  it  was 
deemed  best  to  divide  the  Conference. 

The  Alleghany  Conference  now  includes  only  one  presiding  elder's 
district.  That  man  who  has  done  more  than  any  other  living  man  to  in- 
crease the  utility  of  this  Conference  is  the  successful  presiding  elder. 
You  have  only  to  go  up  the  alley  and  take  a  look  at  the  little  hid-away 
building  in  which  John  Wesley  congregation  worshiped  when  he  came  to 
this  charge  and  compare  it  with  the  splendid  edifice  in  which  this  General 
Conference  has  assembled,  to  form  an  idea  of  his  great  work  here. 

There  has  been  a  splendid  church  erected  in  the  city  of  Bedford.  Also 
one  at  Hollidaysburg. 

The  church  that  was  carried  away  by  the  flood  at  Johnstown  has  been 
restored. 

A  parsonage  has  been  purchased  at  Union  Town. 

A  very  fine  church  has  been  built  at  Huntingdon. 

The  church  at  Mt.  Pleasant  has  been  completed,  and  a  fine  parsonage 
has  been  built  in  connection  with  the  church  in  which  we  are  assembled. 
In  addition  to  this  the  splendid  organ  you  behold  speaks  for  itself,  and  re- 
minds us  of  the  untiring  energy  of  the  present  pastor. 


508  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  Homewoocl  congregation  are  soon  to  have  a  new  church,  and  we 
have  a  good  prospect  at  Holliday's  Chapel,  in  this  city. 

The  new  Conference  set  off  is  called  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  includes 
that  portion  of  Pennsylvania  which  lies  west  of  the  Alleghany  River,  and 
all  that  we  now  have  in  Ohio.  This  young  baby  of  the  connection  prom- 
ises well  for  the  future.  That  the  presiding  elder  was  a  happy  selection 
was  indicated  by  the  enthusiasm  which  the  announcement  of  his  name 
kindled  in  the  Conference,  but  he  has  more  than  filled  the  best  expectation. 
He  is  organizing  churches  so  fast  that  the  bishop  has  not  been  able  to 
find  men  to  hold  the  points  he  has  taken. 

In  this  part  of  the  work  there  has  also  been  much  improvement  in  the 
way  of  church  building. 

A  fine  church  has  been  built  at  Franklin,  Pa.,  also  one  at  New  Castle, 
and  there  are  several  others  now  in  course  of  erection.  There  is  no  more 
promising  field  at  present  than  the  Ohio  Conference. 

Like  the  other  part  of  the  First  District,  these  two  Conferences  selected 
delegates  from  among  their  most  active  and  useful  men.  The  bishop  re- 
grets that  the  limit  of  representation  deprives  us  of  the  service  in  this  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  several  others.  There  are  at  least  a  half  dozen  more 
men  in  these  Conferences  who  would  have  made  most  useful  delegates. 

It  may  be  impossible  to  devise  any  plan  which  will  enable  us  to  get 
together  all  our  best  workers  without  having  a  body  so  large  as  to  be  un- 
wieldy. 

There  is  one  inequality,  however,  which  the  bishop  thinks  constitutes  an 
evil.  That  is,  in  some  Conferences  there  is  a  large  number  of  supernu- 
meraries as  the  result  of  receiving  candidates  on  a  lower  standard  of  in- 
tellectual development  than  that  adopted  in  other  Conferences.  This,  it 
must  be  seen,  will  tend  to  give  ignorance  a  preponderance  to  which  it  is 
not  entitled ;  for  a  delegate  representing  supernumeraries,  who  are  such 
because  they  will  not  make  the  necessary  improvement  to  be  employed,  is 
one  representing  ignorance,  and  yet  having  the  same  weight  in  this  body 
as  one  representing  our  most  intelligent  and  useful  ministers. 

To  protect  themselves  against  this  inequality  of  representation  the  more 
intelligent  may  come  to  feel  it  a  necessity  of  the  situation  to  also  receive 
candidates  of  a  low  grade,  and  thus  the  whole  body  maybe  dragged  down 
to  a  lower  standard.  To  avoid  this  it  will  be  well  to  guard  more  carefully 
the  door  of  entrance  to  all  the  Conferences.  Supernumeraries  are  a  very 
scarce  article  in  the  First  District,  and  nearly  all  of  the  small  number  ought 
to  be  on  the  superannuated  list,  if  the  connection  were  able  to  care  for 
them.  They  are  generally  those  who  came  in  at  a  period  when  opportu- 
nities were  poor,  but  served  well  their  day,  and  now  are  worn  out.  The 
district  is  not  burdened  with  youthful  supernumeraries  as  the  result  of  the 
want  of  care  in  the  admission  of  candidates. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      509 

Among  the  victims  of  death  in  the  Alleghany  Conference,  besides  the 
distinguished  bishop  who  was  one  of  the  original  members,  was  Rev.  John 
A.  Mulligan,  who  was  a  member  of  the  last  General  Conference.  Also 
one  of  our  most  distinguished  laymen,  Brother  Harris,  who  was  at  our  last 
General  Conference,  has  gone  to  his  reward. 

THIRD    DISTRICT. 

This  district,  when  assigned  to  Bishop  Moore  four  years  ago,  embraced 
two  Annual  Conference  districts,  namely,  the  Central  North  Carolina  Con- 
ference and  the  New  Jersey  Conference ;  now  it  embraces  three  Annual 
Conferences,  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference,  the  Western  North 
Carolina  Conference,  and  the  New  Jersey  Conference,  the  Western  being 
a  division  of  the  Central  Conference.  The  two  Conferences  in  Carolina 
embrace  within  their  limits  twenty-three  counties,  beginning  in  Cum- 
berland County,  in  the  southwestern  portion  of  the  State  and  include 
portions  of  Cumberland  County,  Robinson,  Moore,  Montgomery,  Anson, 
Union,  Harnett,  Chatham,  Guilford,  Forsythe,  Davie,  Davidson,  Iredell, 
Rowan,  Stanley,  Cabarrus,  Catawba,  Burke,  Lincoln,  Cleveland,  Ruther- 
ford, Richmond,  Mecklenburg,  and  McDowell  Counties. 

The  number  of  stations  in  the  Carolina  Conferences 20 

The  number  of  circuits . .  . 45 

The  number  of  missions 9 

The  New  Jersey  Conference,  number  of  stations 17 

Number  of  circuits 3 

Number  of  missions 6 

Making  the  total  in  the  Third  Episcopal  District  of  stations,  circuits, 
and  missions  one  hundred. 

Financial  Receipts  and  Disbursements. 

Received  on  General   Fund $18,028  80 

For  Church   Extension 40,881  24 

For  pastor's  salary 79.425  00 

For  presiding  elders 17,050  80 

For  Conferences  and  charities 4,870  32 

For  home  and  foreign   missions 370  04 

For  local   missions 692  92 

For  Children's   Day 2,050  04 

Grand    total $163,369  16 

Churches  and  Parsonages. 

Number  of  churches  in  the  two  Carolina  Conferences. .  245 

Number  in  the  New  Jersey  Conference 16 

Their  value,  with  twelve  parsonages $190,828 


5IO  ONE    HUNDRED'  YEARS    OE   THE 

Institutions  of  Learning  in  the  District,  and  their  Value. 

i.  The  Livingstone  College,  in  Salisbury,  N.  C,  with  its  fifty  acres  of 
land  adjacent  to  the  town,  and  with  its  three  large  brick  buildings,  and  a 
large  fine  frame  building  accommodating  from  260  to  300  students.  The 
institution  is  valued  at  $125,000. 

2.  The  Moore's  Academy  at  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  having  four  acres  near 
the  town,  which  is  valuable. 

3.  A  district  school  at  Norwood,  N.  C,  with  a  very  valuable  piece  of 
land  of  several  acres  donated  by  generous  gentlemen. 

4.  There  are  several  parochial  schools  established  recently  in  the  dis- 
trict. Many  new  churches  have  been  built  during  the  last  four  years,  and 
others  remodeled  and  enlarged,  and  others  are  in  course  of  erection.  The 
ministry  in  these  Annual  Conferences,  second  to  none,  have  been  greatly 
advanced  in  mental  culture,  ministerial  experience,  and  devotion  to  our  be- 
loved Zion.  Their  conduct  has  won  the  confidence  and  plaudits  not  only 
of  their  humble  executive,  but  the  thousands  of  the  people  whom  they  have 
most  faithfully  served. 

FOURTH   DISTRICT. 
Right  Rev.  J.  P.  Thompson,  Presiding  Bishop. 

This  district  is  composed  of  three  Conferences,  including  six  presiding 
elders'  districts,  the  North  Carolina  Conference,  the  Genesee  Conference, 
and  the  Michigan  and  Canada  Conference.  Amount  collected  for  all 
purposes  during  the  four  years,  $162,499.44  ;  probable  value  of  church 
property,  $310,000.  The  condition  of  the  district  is  good,  both  spiritually 
and  financially.  We  are  glad  to  say  that  great  progress  is  being  made  in 
the  moral  condition  of  the  work  ;  the  ministers  in  this  district  are  free  from 
the  use  of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage,  and  there  is  increasing  oppo- 
sition to  narcotics. 

At  several  points  in  the  district  there  has  been  marked  material  improve- 
ment. At  Wilkesbarre  a  new  church  has  been  built  and  nearly  paid  for;  a 
handsome  little  church  has  also  been  erected  and  paid  for  at  Auburn  ;  a  new 
church  has  been  built  at  Saratoga  and  paid  for  by  a  white  lady  friend.  The 
church  at  Johnstown  has  been  improved  and  partly  paid  for;  the  indebted- 
ness on  the  old  church  at  Rochester  is  about  paid  off,  and  there  is  a  fine  pros- 
pect of  a  new  edifice  being  erected  in  the  near  future.  A  church  has  been 
built  at  Watertown,  with  all  indebtedness  paid  off,  and  another  at  Oneida, 
also  free  from  debt.  The  debt  on  the  church  at  Schoharie  has  been 
paid  off. 

In  the  Michigan  and  Canada  Conference  the  church  at  Chatham  has 
been  improved  and  the  debt  nearly  liquidated. 

In  the  North  Carolina  Conference  the  long-standing  debt  at  Raleigh, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      5  I  I 

which  has  given  the  bishop  so  much  trouble,  has  been  paid,  and  the  out- 
look for  the  church  in  the  future  is  good.  The  church  at  Wilson  is  being 
improved  by  the  addition  of  a  steeple.  A  new  church  is  in  course  of 
erection  at  Henderson  and  nearly  ready  for  dedication.  At  Beaufort  the 
church  has  been  improved  and  beautified.  Improvements  have  also  been 
made  on  the  church  at  Lumberton,  and  the  outlook  is  good.  A  church 
has  been  established  at  Tomahawk,  and  a  mission  at  Dunn.  At  Elizabeth- 
town  a  very  fine  church  has  been  erected.  A  new  church  has  been  built 
on  the  Lisbon  Circuit,  also  one  at  Roseborough  and  another  at  Magnolia. 

The  church  at  New  Berne,  as  well  as  the  entire  connection,  has  suffered 
a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  the  able  and  respected  elder  and  delegate  to 
the  General  Conference,  W.  H.  Thurber.     "  Peace  to  his  ashes  !  " 

Rev.  John  Davis  has  also  fallen  out  of  the  ranks  since  the  last  General 
Conference. 

The  work  has  not  been  visited  as  much  as  the  bishop  desired  because  of 
attacks  of  rheumatism,  but  by  the  assistance  of  an  able  corps  of  presiding 
elders  the  work  has  been  kept  in  a  good  condition. 

Financially  the  North  Carolina  Conference  leads  the  entire  connection 
in  the  matter  of  general  fund,  having  raised  an  average  of  $875  for  each 
presiding  elder's  district  for  last  year. 

Report  of  North  Carolina  Conference. 

Number  of  churches 187 

Number  of  Sunday  schools 179 

Total  amount  collected $162,499  44 

Report  of  Genesee  Conference. 

Number  of  churches 20 

Number  of  Sunday  schools 19 

Total  amount  collected $43, 1 1 2 

Report  of  Michigan  and  Canada  Conference. 

Number  of  churches 25 

Number  of  Sunday  schools 25 

Total  amount  collected $8,300 

Report  of  Book  Concern,  Bishop  J.  P.  Thompson,  President. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  General  Conference  a  resolution  prevailed  which 
authorized  the  bishops  to  overhaul  the  Book  Concern.  We  had  some  diffi- 
culty at  first  in  getting  at  the  work,  and  it  was  not  until  the  middle  of 
the  summer  or  beginning  of  the  fall  of  1889  that  we  could  get  properly  at 
the  business.  The  bishops  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  the  books 
and  accounts,  who  made  a  thorough  investigation  and  reported  an  in- 
debtedness amounting  to  over  $3,000  :  $2,000  of  this  amount  was  due  the 


512  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

agent,  Dr.  Thomas,  for  which  sum  it  was  agreed  to  allow  him  to  collect 
all  outstanding  debts,  which  he  accepted  as  a  final  settlement  of  his 
claim.  The  value  of  the  stock  in  the  Book  Room  was  hardly  worth  men- 
tioning. Because  of  the  financial  embarrassment  of  the  Concern  the  agent 
resigned.  That  the  new  administration  might  be  better  able  to  continue 
the  work  (the  Concern  not  being  in  a  condition  to  pay  a  salary)  Rev.  A. 
Walters,  D.D.,  was  asked  to  take  charge  of  it  without  a  salary,  which  he 
did.  The  amount  due  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Book  Concern,  $732,  was 
settled  at  a  very  great  discount,  as  were  also  some  other  outstanding  debts. 
Bishop  Thompson  advanced  considerable  money  to  put  the  Concern  on  its 
feet,  for  which  he  deserves  the  thanks  of  the  entire  connection. 

Since  the   15th  of  October,  1889,  there  has  been  col- 
lected      $4,505  03 

Outstanding  credits 800  00 

Total  $5,305  03 

Expenses $4,505  03 

Outstanding  credits 800  00 

Total  $5,305  03 

The  brethren  have  not  patronized  the  Concern  as  we  would  like,  and 
those  who  have  patronized  it  have  not  paid  up.  We  regret  this  very 
much.  If  the  brethren  will  help  us  out,  give  us  their  patronage  and  pay  up 
their  debts,  the  Concern  can  be  made  a  great  success.  It  is  now 
worth  $3,000  clear  of  all  incumbrance. 

We  recommend  that  the  General  Conference  leave  the  matter  of  General 
Agent  in  the  hands  of  the  Book  Committee  and  the  Board  of  Bishops. 

We  further  recommend  that  the  appropriation  be  left  as  it  is. 

FIFTH  DISTRICT. 

Right  Rev.  T.  H.  Lomax,  Presiding  Bishop. 

The  Tennessee  Conference  has  more  than  doubled  itself.  The  Alabama 
Conference  greatly  increased  in  General  Fund.  The  Florida  Annual 
Conference  is  doing  grandly.  The  Kentucky  Conference  is  a  little  behind 
the  other  Conferences  financially.  There  is  room  for  improvement ;  some 
of  our  dear  brethren  do  not  keep  the  law  in  collecting  and  sending  to  the 
steward  monthly ;  they  wait  till  near  the  sitting  of  the  Conference  to 
collect  the  General  Fund.  It  should  begin  in  time,  according  to  the  finan- 
cial plan,  thereby  giving  the  members  time  to  pay  the  General  Fund.  The 
presiding  elders  should  see  that  every  cent  is  collected,  for  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain if  we  are  to  run  the  connection  we  must  raise  the  General  Fund. 
Your  bishops  are  far  behind  on  salary,  and  some  of  them  must  cease  to 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      513 

travel  unless  they  are  better  paid,  for  they  cannot  support  their  families 
and  represent  the  general  interests  of  the  connection  unless  they  are 
better  provided  for.  Some  of  our  brethren  seem  inclined  to  elect  a  trav- 
eling missionary  for  the  connection.  We  think  that  this  proposition  is 
intended  more  to  erect  a  new  object  for  financial  aid  than  a  connectional 
benefit.  We  are  fully  satisfied  that  the  very  best  thing  to  do  is  to  collect 
mission  money  and  bring  the  same  to  the  Conference,  to  be  given  to  the 
ministers  who  are  actually  engaged  in  building  new  churches.  If  we  had 
to-day  $1,000  in  mission  funds  we  could  very  easily  send  out  ministers  who 
would  bring  back  a  glorious  and  most  satisfactory  report.  The  good  Lord 
has  most  wonderfully  and  signally  blessed  our  past  efforts.  We  rejoice 
greatly  in  the  achievements  of  the  past.  We  know  of  no  connection  that 
has  made  such  advancement  in  numerical  and  financial  strength,  as  well 
as  educational  development.  All  that  Zion  needs  at  present  is  to  have 
God  on  her  side,  and  she  may  take  the  world  for  him.  Let  all  her  watch- 
men, old  and  young,  combine  in  one  unbroken  phalanx,  unfurl  Zion's  ban- 
ner to  the  breeze,  and  the  field  will  be  ours,  in  holy  triumph  won. 

Logan  Temple,  Knoxville,  has  been  burdened  with  a  large  debt  for  six 
or  seven  years,  but  through  the  efforts  of  Rev.  J.  H.  Manley  and  others 
she  is  now  free.  The  educational  department,  in  the  same  Conference, 
under  Professor  R.  E.  Toomey,  is  simply  grand.  A  high  school,  located  at 
Greenville,  Tenn.,  is  in  operation.  The  building  is  forty  by  sixty  feet, 
two  stories,  in  good  order.  There  is  about  $200  still  due  on  the  ground. 
The  work  will  be  reported  by  Professor  Toomey  and  Rev.  B.  M.  Gudger. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  General  Conference  this  district  included  the 
Alabama,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Florida  Conferences.  Since  that 
time  the  Missouri  Annual  Conference,  has  been  set  off  which  was  organ- 
ized September  17,  1889,  and  the  South  Florida  Conference,  organized  1890. 

Vast  improvement  in  every  respect  has  been  made  in  the  district  during 
this  quadrennium.  The  Missouri  Conference  had  one  presiding  elder  in 
the  person  of  Rev.  Smith  Claiborne  ;  his  two  years  of  administration  were 
crowned  with  much  success  ;  yea,  the  work  grew  so  fast  that  the  bishop 
found  it  necessary  to  divide  it  into  two  districts,  under  Revs.  A.  Bunch 
and  D.  J.  Donohoo. 

Report  of  Missouri  Conference. 

Circuits  and  stations 40 

Sabbath  schools 20 

Officers  and  teachers 100 

Amount  collected  for  General  Fund  (for  two  years) ....      $1,474 

Amount  collected  on  pastor's  salary 8,296 

Amount  collected  for  presiding  elders 1 ,474 

Total $1 1 ,244 


5  14  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

The  Kentucky  Conference  is  composed  of  some  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  faithful  men  in  the  connection.  It  is  divided  into  two  districts,  and  is 
blessed  with  two  able  presiding  elders  of  fidelity  and  courage.  The  work 
is  in  a  good  condition,  both  spiritually  and  financially. 

Report  of  Kentucky  Conference. 

Circuits  and  stations 40 

Sabbath  schools 39 

Scholars 2,798 

Officers  and  teachers 101 

Amount  collected  for  General  Fund  (for  four  years) . .    $2,772  24 
Amount  collected  on  pastor's  salary 2,104  47 


Total $4,876  71 

Probable  value  of  property $101 ,000  00 

Report  of.  Tennessee  Conference. 
Number  of  districts 4 

Presiding  elders,  B.  M.  Gudger,  W.  H.  Ferguson,  T.  F.  H.  Black- 
man,  H.  Baylis. 

Sunday  schools 116 

Scholars 4,73° 

Teachers 528 

Amount  collected  for  General  Fund $2,91 5  82 

Amount  collected  on  pastors'  salary 4.948  48 

Amount  collected  for  presiding  elders 6,448  00 


Total $14,312  30 

Report  of  Alabama  Conference. 

This  is  the  banner  Conference  of  the  district,  and  one  of  the  leading 
Conferences  in  the  far  South.  It  remits  more  General  Fund  than  any 
other  Conference,  except  the  Carolinas.  There  has  been  a  general  in- 
crease in  this  Conference  all  along  the  line.  Her  ministry  is  able,  digni- 
fied, and  reliable.  It  has  five  presiding  elders  :  Revs.  M.  G.  Thomas,  S. 
Derry,  J.  W.  Alstork,  H.  P.  Shufford,  and  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D. 

Circuits  and  stations 183 

Sabbath  schools 250 

Scholars 1 7,000 

Officers  and  teachers   275 

Amount  collected  on  General  Fund  (four  years) $9,220 

The  Sunday  School  Department,  stationed  at  Montgomery,  Ala.,  by  the 
Board  of  Bishops,  has  proved  a  grand  success.     It  stands  greatly  in  need 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       5  1 5 

of  financial  aid.     Rev.  R.  R.  Morris,  D.D.,  General  Superintendent,  and 
Rev.  T.  A.  Weathington,  General  Secretary,  will  make  a  full  report. 

Mrs.  M.  J.  Hale,  one  of  the  vice  presidents  of  the  Home  and  Foreign 
Missionary  Society,  has  donated  to  the  colored  people  of  Montgomery  the 
Hale  Infirmary,  an  institution  costing  $7,000.  It  is  under  the  control  of  a 
board  of  trustees.  She  takes  the  lead  in  this  direction  in  the  South,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Old  Ship  Church. 

Report  of  the  Florida  Conference. 

This  Conference  is  composed  of  thirty  ministers.  Prominent  among 
them  are  Elders  J.  H.  Darley,  S.  L.  McDonald,  O.  V.  Jackson,  J.  N.  Clin- 
ton, Simon  Brown,  and  I.  Ferby. 

Circuits  and  stations 19 

Sabbath  schools   18 

Scholars 1 ,200 

Amount  collected  on  General  Fund  (four  years) $1,264  °° 

Amount  collected  for  pastors'  salary 5,495  96 

Amount  collected  for  presiding  elders 1,706  80 

%  8,466  76 

Value  of  church  property $30,000  00 

The  last  Conference  held  was  the  most  prosperous  of  any. 

Report  of  South  Florida  Conference. 

Among  the  most  prominent  elders  of  this  Conference  are  Revs.  W.  C. 
Vesta,  J.  Sexton,  S.  W.  Maize,  and  W.  A.  Baine. 

Circuits  and  stations c 25 

Sabbath  schools 20 

Scholars. .    1.500 

Officers  and  teachers 100 

Amount  collected  on  General  Fund  (two  years) $470 

The  general  condition  of  the  work  is  good. 

SIXTH    DISTRICT. 

Bishop  C.  C.  Pettey  in  charge. 

This  district  embraces  West  Alabama,  Louisiana,  North  Louisiana, 
Texas,  California,  and  South  Carolina  (since  the  death  of  Bishop  Jones). 

This  district  has  fully  kept  pace  with  the  advancing  tide  of  the  Church. 
Possibly  no  part  of  our  work  has  grown  more  rapidly  during  this  quadren- 
nium  than  the  Sixth  District ;  it  has  more  than  doubled  itself  in  the  last 
four  years,  as  statistics  will  prove. 

In  1888  the  California  Conference  had  105  members  and  probationers, 


5  l6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

4  traveling  preachers  and  ministers,  and  2  local  preachers.  Money  raised 
for  all  purposes,  about  $3,000.  Now  the  California  Conference  has  on  roll 
16  ministers  and  traveling  preachers,  with  655  members  and  probationers. 
Amount  of  money  raised  for  all  purposes  this  last  Conference  year  was 
about  $9,000.  Total  amount  raised  this  quadrennium  in  this  Conference, 
about  $18,000. 

Texas  has  done  equally  as  well.  In  1888  there  were  only  26  members 
and  probationers,  with  6  preachers  on  roll.  Whole  amount  raised  for  all 
purposes  was  less  than  $100.  This  Conference  year  we  numbered  460 
members  and  probationers,  17  preachers  on  roll,  and  raised  for  all  purposes 
about  $1,000.     Total  amount  raised  during  the  last  four  years  about  $2,000. 

The  Louisiana  Conference  in  1888  had  about  300  members,  30  preach- 
ers on  roll,  and  raised  that  year  for  all  purposes  about  $1,200.  Now  we 
have  two  Conferences  in  the  State — the  Louisiana  and  the  North  Louisiana 
Conferences.  In  the  Louisiana  Conference  we  have  nearly  3,000  members, 
56  preachers  on  roll,  and  raised  last  Conference  year  for  all  purposes  about 
$5,000.  The  North  Louisiana  Conference  has  463  members,  19  preachers 
on  roll,  and  raised  last  year  about  $2,000.  Total  amount  for  both  Confer- 
ences for  the  past  four  years,  about  $17,500. 

The  West  Alabama  Conference  in  1888  had  a  membership  of  10,000, 
with  112  preachers  on  roll.  Amount  of  money  raised  for  all  purposes 
$23,000.  Now  we  have  on  roll  152  preachers  and  about  96  local  preach- 
ers, with  about  20,000  members  and  probationers.  This  Conference  raised 
last  year  for  all  purposes  $41,000.  Total  amount  for  the  four  years  $120,- 
000.  One  year  ago  last  December  this  Conference  decided  to  establish  a 
connectional  school  within  the  bounds  of  the  Conference  district ;  hence 
no  pains  were  spared  or  time  lost  in  establishing  in  Tuscaloosa,  Ala.,  what 
is  known  as  the  "Jones  University,"  named  in  honor  of  our  late  senior 
bishop,  Right  Rev.  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.  We  have  secured  a  very  fine  piece  of 
property  about  one  mile  from  the  courthouse.  We  have  one  large  frame 
building  containing  a  chapel  with  a  seating  capacity  of  two  hundred,  and 
eight  large  recitation  rooms.  We  also  have  a  two-story  brick  outer  build- 
ing, which  we  propose  to  connect  with  the  main  building.  In  our  music 
room  we  have  a  fine  piano.  We  have  just  closed  a  very  successful  session 
of  six  months.  Number  of  instructors,  7  ;  number  of  students,  175.  All 
notes  on  property  are  paid  up  to  date.  With  a  little  encouragement  and 
aid  the  Jones  University  will,  in  the  near  future,  be  one  of  the  leading  uni- 
versities of  the  South.  The  South  Carolina  Conference  four  years  ago 
had  about  10,000  members,  86  preachers  on  roll,  and  about  50  local  preach- 
ers. Money  raised  for  all  purposes  $25,000.  Last  year  we  had  about 
25,000  members,  about  90  local  preachers,  and  162  ministers  on  roll,  and 
raised  for  all  purposes  about  $45,000.  Total  amount  for  the  quadrennium, 
$150,000. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       517 

The  value  of  the  church  property  has  increased  at  almost  every  point, 
either  by  the  erection  of  new  churches  or  remodeling  the  old  ones.  Many 
fine  churches  have  been  built  on  this  district  recently,  and  many  valuable 
parsonages  erected.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  rural  districts  in  South 
Carolina  and  Alabama.  The  country  churches,  with  their  bells  and  organs, 
compare  very  favorably  with  our  city  work.  This  shows  the  moral  and 
intellectual  growth  of  the  ministry  and  the  cultivated  taste  of  the  masses. 
In  fact,  the  wonderful  increase  of  the  Church,  financially  and  numerically, 
must  be  attributed  very  largely  to  the  general  advancement  of  the  race, 
both  in  the  pulpit  and  pew.  The  morals  of  all  have  been  raised  propor- 
tionately with  their  educational  and  religious  advantages,  and  the  Church  is 
hopeful  of  her  highest  aims.  We  are  glad  to  note  that  not  a  single  minis- 
ter in  this  entire  district  has  been  called  before  the  Conference  bar,  charged 
with  immoral  conduct,  during  the  last  four  years.  We  especially  note  this 
fact  because  this  district  embraces  a  large  portion  of  that  section  where 
the  colored  people  are  massed,  and  where  the  colored  ministry  is  wont  to 
be  disgraced  by  the  common  enemies  of  the  race  and  Church.  Wherever 
our  churches  are  in  a  healthy  condition  there  the  people  are  generally 
attended  with  peace  and  prosperity.  And  this,  we  think,  is  largely  due  to 
the  fact  that  our  ministers  teach  the  people  to  secure  land  and  build 
homes ;  consequently,  many  of  our  members  in  the  South  are  owners  of 
large  tracts  of  land  and  many  more  are  rapidly  becoming  their  own  land- 
lords. And  hence  we  feel  that  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  in  America  is  to  play  an  important  part  in  solving  the  great  prob- 
lem of  the  South. 

The  spiritual  condition  of  the  Church  is  good.  Our  large  increase  has 
come  almost  entirely  from  conversions.  We  have  lost  no  churches  by  law- 
suits, nor  ministers  by  withdrawals  that  we  desired  to  keep  with  us.  We 
have  set  apart  two  new  Conferences  for  your  approval  or  disapproval — 
the  "  Palmetto  "  from  the  South  Carolina  Conference,  because  it  was  too 
large,  and  the  North  Louisiana  from  the  Louisiana  Conference,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience.  We  also  offer  the  Jones  University  as  a  connectional 
institution. 

SEVENTH    DISTRICT. 

This  district,  to  which  Bishop  C.  R.  Harris  was  assigned,  was  composed 
of  the  Georgia,  the  North  Georgia,  the  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi, 
and  the  Arkansas  Annual  Conference  Districts.  The  Georgia  Conference 
embraced  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  extending  from  Ogle- 
thorpe County  to  Burke  County,  with  a  membership  of  about  700.  The 
North  Georgia  Conference  reached  from  Athens,  in  Clarke  County,  to 
Columbus,  in  the  extreme  western  part  of  the  State.  It  embraced  the 
central  part  of  that  State,  and  had  a  membership  of  about  500.  The 
West  Tennessee  and   Mississippi  Conference   stretched  from   Memphis, 


5  1 8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Term.,  southward  to  Canton,  Miss.,  and  thence  eastward  to  Meridian  and 
Cooksville,  Miss.,  and  included  a  small  portion  of  western  Alabama.  It 
had  a  membership  of  about  2,000  under  one  presiding  elder.  The  Arkan- 
sas Conference  reached  from  Conway  County  eastward  to  Forest  City,  and 
southward  to  the  Louisiana  line  adjoining  Ashley  County,  and  included 
several  churches  in  Louisiana.  In  this  latter  county,  through  the  assidu- 
ous labors  of  Rev.  A.  J.  Coleman,  lay  most  of  the  membership  of  the 
Conference,  which  amounted  to  about  500,  the  total  membership  of  the 
district  being  considerably  less  than  4,000. 

At  the  first  session  of  the  Tennessee  Annual  Conference  that  was  held 
after  the  last  General  Conference  the  presiding  bishop,  by  request,  cut 
off  that  part  of  the  Conference  lying  within  the  State  of  Georgia,  and  as- 
signed it,  with  the  preachers  belonging  to  it,  to  the  North  Georgia  Con- 
ference, thus  adding  from  200  to  300  to  the  membership  of  the  Seventh 
District. 

Though  widely  scattered,  the  district  has  comparatively  few  charges,  and 
the  presiding  bishop  was  enabled  during  the  first  year  to  visit  more  than 
half  the  churches  composing  the  district,  in  some  instances  preaching  in 
parts  never  before  visited  by  a  bishop  of  any  denomination. 

Our  work  in  all  these  Conferences  is  scattering  and  very  irregular  in 
shape,  and  entails  much  travel  in  reaching  churches  of  small  membership. 
Hence  there  were  few  paying  circuits,  and  much  difficulty  was  found  in 
supplying  the  several  charges  with  competent  and  reliable  preachers. 
Able,  upright,  self-denying,  and  intelligent  ministers  are,  indeed,  greatly 
needed.  The  bishop  has  to  some  extent  succeeded  in  supplying  this  want, 
but  not  as  fully  as  he  desired.  The  crying  need  in  our  Church  of  an  ade- 
quate Mission  and  Church  Extension  Fund  has  been  sorely  felt  in  this 
district.  For  lack  of  it  the  extension  of  our  work  into  towns  and  cities 
has  been  almost  blockaded.  Still,  we  have  made  some  progress  in  that 
direction.  Atlanta  and  Waynesboro,  in  Georgia,  Durant,  and  Green- 
wood, in  Mississippi,  and  Harlow,  Warren,  Brinkley,  and  Pine  Bluff,  in 
Arkansas,  are  the  most  notable  instances  of  churches  organized  during 
the  last  quadrennium  in  towns  where  no  Zion  Church  previously  existed. 
Churches  better  than  the  average  have  been  erected  in  Memphis,  Tenn. ; 
Grady,  Ark.;  and  Summerville,  Columbus,  and  Atlanta,  Ga.  Besides 
these  churches  have  been  built  or  greatly  improved  at  Pleasant  Hill, 
Bethlehem,  Spring  Hill,  Monroe,  Prospect,  Stony  Point,  and  La  Fayette, 
in  Georgia,  and  Bayne's  Cornerstone,  Harlow,  and  Little  Rock,  in  Arkansas. 

In  Arkansas,  and  especially  in  Mississippi,  in  the  region  commonly 
designated  as  "  The  Bottoms,"  our  Church  has  most  rapidly  extended. 
Many  mission  churches,  comprising  several  hundred  members,  have  been 
organized  in  the  latter  district  alone. 

Owing  to  the  enlargement  of  the  work,  and  the  fact  that  the  West  Ten- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      519 

nessee  and  Mississippi  Conference  was  very  extensive,  that  Conference 
was  divided  at  its  last  session.  The  northern  portion — from  Memphis, 
Tenn.,  to  Greeiywood,  Miss. — retained  the  original  name,  the  southern 
part,  from  Yazoo  City  to  Cookesville,  Miss.,  and  Sherman,  Ala. — being 
named  the  South  Mississippi  Conference,  each  having  two  presiding  eld- 
ers' districts.  The  newly  set  off  district  already  reports  several  mission 
points  organized  since  Christmas. 

Through  the  rascality  of  imported  preachers  we  lost  ground  in  Athens 
and  in  Columbus,  Ga.,  but  have  to  some  extent  regained  it.  This  may 
account  for  the  zeal  of  the  bishop  in  reiterating  in  various  forms  the  truth 
that  constant  insistence  upon  the  intellectual  and  moral  improvement  of 
the  ministry  is  an  imperative  demand  upon  us.  This  done,  Zion  will  have 
no  need,  even  apparently,  of  welcoming  to  her  fold  deserters  from  other  de- 
nominations. Should  this  remark  seem  gratuitous  we  but  quote  the  adage, 
"  A  burnt  child  dreads  the  fire." 

On  the  whole  the  prospect  in  the  entire  district  is  hopeful,  and  gives 
promise  of  greater  vigor  and  growth  in  the  immediate  future,  for  which 
God  be  praised  ! 

Necrology. 

Many  who  have  been  in  attendance  upon  the  sessions  of  the  General 
Conference  in  recent  years  will  remember  the  tall,  courtly  figure  of  a 
presiding  elder  from  Mississippi,  the  Rev.  L.  J.  Scurlock.  A  prominent 
worker  on  committees,  thoughtful  and  dignified,  he  gained  immediate 
attention  whenever  he  obtained  the  floor  in  debate.  For  many  years  he 
occupied  a  leading  position  among  the  people  of  his  own  State,  and  in  the 
Conference  he  exercised  a  commanding,  yet  gentle,  influence.  He  has 
passed  from  the  ranks  of  the  Church  militant  to  his  place  in  the  Church 
triumphant. 

Not  long  after  his  decease  another  veteran,  known  to  many  of  you,  lay 
down  in  the  sultry  heat  of  the  Mississippi  bottoms,  folded  his  arms  as 
though  awaiting  the  roll  call,  and  breathed  his  last  on  earth.  It  was  Elder 
Wallace  Jones,  a  pioneer  in  Georgia,  and,  later  on,  in  Mississippi. 

Occupying  a  similar  position  in  the  North  Georgia  Conference  was  the 
Rev.  Cambridge  Smith,  often  called  the  father  of  the  Georgia  Conference. 
He,  too,  has  been  called  to  enjoy  the  reward  of  a  long  life  devoted  to  the 
service  of  God. 

The  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Conference,  during  its  last  ses- 
sion, suffered  the  loss  of  still  another  elder,  who,  though  a  member  of  the 
Conference  for  a  few  years  only,  was  rapidly  gaining  in  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  brethren.  In  the  death  of  Dr.  W.  D.  Van  Ryan  the 
Conference  lost  a  vigilant  and  active  leader,  and  his  loss  is  deeply 
mourned. 
35 


520  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Among  others  who  have  fallen  victims  to  death  from  the  ministerial 
ranks  in  the  district  during  the  last  quadrennium  are  Revs.  S.  Strickland, 
M.  Hawkins,  Peter  Trammell,  and  R.  E.  Scott.     Peace  to  their  ashes ! 

The  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference. 

On  the  demise  of  the  lamented  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  who  had  charge  of 
the  Second  Episcopal  District,  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Annual 
Conference  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  bishop  of  the  Seventh  District. 
It  embraces  the  District  of  Columbia,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  the  east- 
ern part  of  Pennsylvania.  During  the  past  few  years  considerable  progress 
has  been  made  in  this  district.  The  leading  churches  have  increased 
greatly  in  membership.  A  church  has  been  organized  in  Wrightsville, 
Pa.,  the  birthplace  of  the  late  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  and  a  handsome  little 
stone  church  erected  through  the  enterprise  of  Dr.  Jamison  and  his  coad- 
jutors, valued  at  $5,000.  At  Arlington,  Va.,  a  beautiful  and  commodious 
church  has  been  built,  and  also  one  in  Rockville,  Md.  We  have  also  at 
Lincoln  University  finished  a  brick  church,  28  by  45,  and  one  at  Avondale 
is  nearly  completed,  of  the  same  size.  We  have  also  organized  churches 
at  Potsdam  and  Marshallton.  The  church  at  West  Harrisburg  has 
been  much  improved,  and  cleared  of  its  debt.  Shippensbury  Church 
has  been  remodeled,  and  is  now  in  fine  condition.  The  following  new 
societies  have  been  added  to  the  Conference  district  :  Trinity  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C. ;  Forks,  Md. ;  Lock  Haven,  Pa. ;  Parkersville,  Pa. ; 
and  Alexandria,  Va.  At  Brownsville  and  Huntsdale,  Pa.,  lots  have  been 
secured  for  the  erection  of  churches.  At  Newtown  the  church  has  pur- 
chased a  fine  lot  in  a  much  more  desirable  location.  In  Baltimore,  Md., 
the  church  building  has  been  presented  to  the  connection  by  Mr.  F.  W. 
Bennett,  and  means  are  now  being  raised  to  purchase  the  lot  upon  which 
it  stands,  after  remodeling  the  church. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       52 1 


522  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

M  ISC  ELLA  NEO  US. 

We  have  found  it  necessary  to  insert  a  miscellaneous 
chapter  since  beginning  the  work,  having  come  across  a 
few  relics  which  we  think  will  be  interesting  to  the 
reader.  We  have  noted  the  fact  that  "African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  "  was  made  the  legal  title  in  1868. 
Since  that  we  have  discovered  in  the  possession  of  Sister 
Hasbrook  (an  aged  member  of  the  church  at  Kingston), 
a  number  of  the  Minutes  of  Conferences  from  1845  down, 
among  them  a  copy  of  the  Minutes  of  the  General  Con- 
ference of  1848,  from  which  we  learn  that  the  title  "  Afri- 
can Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  "  was  adopted  at  that 
time,  as  the  following  minute  will  show: 

"  Rev.  J.  J.  Moore  was  appointed  to  read  the  minutes 
of  the  Committee  on  Revision,  and  the  house  took  up  the 
subject  by  sections.  The  subject  of  Church  Title  was  con- 
sidered as  follows :  '  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  in  America.'  Rev.  G.  A.  Spywood  moved 
to  strike  out  the  word  African,  and  proceeded  to  show 
reasons  why  it  should  be  stricken  out.  Rev.  S.  T.  Gray 
followed  in  an  argument  on  the  opposite  side.  The  dis- 
cussion was  continued  up  to  the  hour  of  adjournment. 
Monday  morning,  June  5,  1848,  Conference  met  accord- 
ing to  adjournment,  Bishop  Christopher  Rush  in  the 
chair,  associated  by  Bishop  George  Galbreth.  After  the 
approval  of  the  minutes,  discussion  on  the  connectional 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       523 


FIRST   AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH, 
PROVIDENCE,    R.    I.      (IN    COURSE   OF    ERECTION.) 


524  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

title  was  resumed,  at  the  close  of  which  it  was  finally  de- 
cided to  adopt  the  title  as  reported  by  the  committee, 
'  The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  Amer- 
ica.' " 

General  Conference  was  occupied  from  June  3d  to  the 
13th  almost  wholly  in  the  consideration  of  the  re- 
port of  the  Committee  on  the  Revision  of  Discipline, 
which,  after  much  debate  and  many  amendments,  was 
finally  adopted.  At  this  session  the  boundary  of  the 
New  York  Conference  was  determined  upon,  and  other 
Conferences  set  off  as  follows :  '  <  The  Allegheny  Confer- 
ence to  be  bounded  east  to  Bedford  and  Hollidaysburg, 
and  including  all  that  part  of  the  State  lying  west  of  the 
Allegheny  Mountains,  extending  to  Lake  Erie,  thence 
south,  running  to  the  Ohio  line,  thence  east  to  the 
Allegheny  Mountains  on  the  Maryland  line,  including 
Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  cities;  the  Genesee  Conference 
to  include  that  portion  of  the  State  of  New  York  lying 
west  of  Albany  and  extending  to  Lake  Ontario  and  Lake 
Erie.  The  Allegheny  Conference  shall  meet  on  the 
third  Saturday  in  August,  1849,  and  the  Genesee  the 
second  Saturday  in  September,  1849." 

Three  book  agents  were  appointed  by  this  Conference, 
as  follows:  Rev.  Edward  Johnson,  Rev.  John  J.  Moore, 
and  Rev.  James  Simmons.  At  this  General  Conference 
Bishop  Rush  gave  the  information  that  he  had  purchased 
a  tract  of  land  for  the  establishment  of  a  connectional 
industrial  school  in  the  county  of  Essex,  State  of  New 
York. 

The  following  preamble  and  Constitution  were  read  and 
adopted  by  the  General  Conference  : 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       525 

PREAMBLE. 

Whereas,  We,  the  ministry  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  in  America,  feeling  as  we  do  that  many  of  the  difficulties  against 
which  we  have  to  labor  grow  out  of  the  fact  that  there  is  a  great  lack  of 
education  among  us.  Man,  viewed  as  a  being  susceptible  of  happiness 
and  capable  of  responsible  action,  sustaining  a  thousand  relations,  involv- 
ing as  many  duties ;  whatever,  therefore,  tends  to  increase  this  susceptibil- 
ity and  enlarge  this  capacity  must  exalt  his  nature  and  promote  the 
benevolent  purpose  for  which  he  was  created.  Such  is  the  tendency  of  a 
well-directed  education,  of  virtuous  example,  of  sound  philosophy  and  the- 
ology—indeed, of  everything  which  gives  the  understanding  a  controlling 
influence  over  the  grosser  passions,  of  everything  which  purifies  and  regu- 
lates the  feelings,  without  diminishing  their  ardor  or  depriving  them  of  their 
appropriate  objects.  And  among  the  many  causes  which  conspire  to  pro- 
duce this  effect,  none  is  so  efficient  as  a  well-directed  education.  Therefore 
those  persons  whose  names  are  here  connected  do  agree  to  form  an  institution 
having  for  its  object  the  establishment  of  prominent  schools  of  education 
preparatoiy  to  the  ministry,  and,  with  other  useful  information  calculated 
to  elevate  our  whole  people,  do  agree  to  be  governed  by  the  following 
Constitution  and  other  By-laws  which  may  be  found  necessary  for  carrying 
out  the  object  set  forth  in  this  preamble  : 

CONSTITUTION. 

ARTICLE   I. 

This  institution  shall  be  known  by  the  name  of  the  "Rush  Academy," 
Essex  County,  State  of  New  York. 

ARTICLE   II. 

Every  subscriber  for  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  or  more,  per  annum, 
shall  be  a  member  of  this  institution,  and  shall  be  entitled  to  the  privilege 
of  membership. 

ARTICLE  III. 

The  funds  raised  by  annual  subscription,  or  otherwise,  shall  be  appro- 
priated, under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  of  Managers,  to  defraying  the 
necessary  expenses,  as  well  as  the  general  expenses  of  the  institution. 

ARTICLE   IV. 

Every  subscriber,  at  the  time  of  subscribing,  shall  direct  to  what  partic- 
ular department  the  amount  of  his  or  their  subscription  shall  be  appro- 
priated— all  donations  shall  be  deemed  the  permanent  property  of  the 
institution.     The  institution  may,  however,  at  its  annual  meeting,  or  other 


526  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

legal  meetings,  authorize  a  sale  of  any  of  its  permanent  property  for  the 
purpose  of  reinvestment  for  others  more  desirable  or  advantageous. 

ARTICLE   v. 

The  officers  of  this  institution  shall  consist  of  a  President,  four  Vice 
Presidents,  Corresponding  and  Recording  Secretaries,  a  Treasurer,  a  Com- 
mittee of  Twenty,  five  of  which  shall  be  located  in  and  about  the  city 
of  New  York  with  the  Corresponding  and  Recording  Secretaries.  Each 
set  of  committees  not  provided  for  in  this  Constitution  shall  have  power  to 
appoint  their  own  secretaries  and  agents. 

ARTICLE   VI. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  President  to  preside  at  the  annual  meetings 
of  the  institution,  to  watch  over  its  interests  generally,  to  recommend  such 
measures  as  he  may  deem  calculated  to  promote  the  object  of  the  institu- 
tion, and  to  call  meetings  of  the  same  when  he  may  think  the  good  of  the 
institution  requires  it,  or  when  requested  so  to  do  by  the  Committee 
of  Managers.  The  Vice  Presidents  shall  sit  as  chairmen  in  their  different 
sections  of  the  committee,  possessing  all  the  power  of  the  President  in  their 
respective  bodies. 

ARTICLE   VII. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Corresponding  Secretary  to  institute  and  carry 
on  the  correspondence  between  the  General  Committee  of  Management, 
the  secretaries  and  agents  of  the  different  departments,  and  to  lay  before 
the  General  Committee  all  letters  and  communications  he  shall  receive ; 
to  pay  over  to  the  Recording  Secretary  monthly,  or  oftener  if  required,  all 
moneys  that  shall  come  into  his  hands,  and  to  perform  such  other  duties 
appertaining  to  his  office  as  may  be  prescribed  by  said  Committee  of  Man- 
agers. 

ARTICLE   VIII. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Recording  Secretary  to  keep  the  records  of  the 
institution  and  of  the  General  Committee  of  Management,  to  receive  all 
the  moneys  of  the  institution,  and  to  pay  over  the  same  monthly,  or  oftener 
if  required,  to  the  Treasurer,  taking  his  receipt  therefor.  He  shall  have  in 
charge  the  seal  of  the  institution,  and  shall  affix  the  same  to  such  docu- 
ments and  papers  and  in  such  manner  as  shall  be  ordered  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Management.  And  he  shall  attend  to  and  perform  such  other 
duties  appertaining  to  his  office  as  the  President  may  direct. 

ARTICLE    IX. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Treasurer  to  receive  all  the  moneys  of  the 
institution  from  the  Recording  Secretary  and  disburse  the  same  as  shall  be 
directed  by  the  General  Committee,  or  by  such   subcommittees  as  they 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       527 

shall  appoint  or  substitute,  keeping  regular  books  of  entry  and  accounts 
of  all  such  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  to  report  to  the  Committee 
of  Management  the  state  of  the  treasury  as  often  as  requested  so  to  do. 
He  shall,  one  week  previous  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the  institution  in 
each  year,  render  to  the  Committee  of  Management  a  full  and  complete 
report  of  all  moneys  received  and  disbursed  by  him  and  of  the  state  of  the 
treasury. 

ARTICLE   X. 

The  General  Committee  of  Managers  shall  have  the  general  supervision 
and  management  of  the  interests  and  affairs  of  the  institution  ;  they  shall 
open  and  conduct  all  negotiations  for  the  purchase  of  any  property  for  the 
institution,  taking-  care,  however,  to  respect  each  branch  of  the  Committee, 
as  the  actual  funds  of  the  institution  may  warrant.  They  shall  provide 
for  the  preservation  and  increase  of  the  property  of  the  institution.  They 
shall  have  power  to  appoint  committees  or  agents,  as  the  interests  of  the 
institution  shall  seem  to  them  to  require ;  to  prescribe  their  respective 
duties  and  fix  their  compensation;  and  they  may  adopt  and  execute  gener- 
ally such  measures  as  shall  to  them  appear  to  be  proper  in  emergencies 
and  necessary  to  carry  out  the  objects  of  this  institution. 

ARTICLE   XI. 

The  Committee  of  Management  shall,  at  every  annual  meeting  of  the 
institution,  render  a  full  report  of  their  proceedings  during  the  year,  stating 
the  principles  governing  them  in  their  selections  or  purchases,  entering 
into  such  details  as  they  shall  think  proper  and  of  interest  to  their  as- 
sociates. 

ARTICLE   XII. 

All  annual  subscriptions  to  the  institution  shall  be  for  the  current  year, 
expiring  on  the  first  day  of  the  following  year.  No  subscriber  shall  be 
entitled  to  the  privileges  of  membership  until  his  subscription  has  been 
paid. 

ARTICLE   XIII. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Committee  of  Managers  to  frame  a  code  of 
By-laws  for  their  own  as  well  as  for  the  further  government  of  the  institu- 
tion, providing  such  By-laws  are  not  repugnant  to  this  Constitution. 
Which  By-laws  for  the  latter  shall  be  submitted  to  the  members  at  a 
meeting  of  the  institution  for  their  approval. 

ARTICLE   XIV. 

This  Constitution  may  be  altered  or  amended  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  institution,  or  at  a  meeting  called  for  said  purpose,  by  a  two-third 
vote  of  the  members  present. 


528  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

The  foregoing  Constitution  was  adopted  by  the  Gen- 
eral Conference,  June  16,  1848.  On  June  17  the  fol- 
lowing resolutions  were  passed : 

By  motion  of  the  house  the  Rev.  George  Galbreth  was  appointed  presi- 
dent of  the  Rush  Academy,  and  the  Rev.  Christopher  Rush  treasurer  of 
the  said  institution,  and  also  the  Rev.  Peter  Ross  was  appointed  by  the 
Conference  vice  president  of  the  Rush  Academy  for  the  New  York  Con- 
ference. 

The    General    Conference    authorized   Superintendent 

Rush  to  appoint  the  secretaries  and  the  other  three  vice 

presidents  of  the  above  institution.     It  was,  on  motion, 

Resolved,  1.  By  the  General  Conference,  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
School  Fund  be  so  altered  or  amended  as  to  allow  each  vice  president 
appointed  by  the  Conference  from  time  to  time  to  organize  a  committee  in 
his  district  sufficient  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  Constitution. 

2.  That  the  central  committee  draw  a  plan  of  said  building  and  an  esti- 
mate of  the  cost  of  the  same,  and  submit  it  to  their  acting  committees  as 
soon  as  possible. 

3.  That  the  central  committee  of  the  School  Fund  are  requested  to  ap- 
point their  agents  and  make  their  appeal  to  the  public  as  soon  as  practi- 
cable. 

On  motion  of  the  house  the  following  Constitution  was 
received  and  adopted  by  the  General  Conference : 

CONSTITUTION  OF  MINISTERS'  MUTUAL  BENEFIT  SOCIETY. 

ARTICLE   I. 

This  Society  shall  be  called  the  Preachers'  Mutual  Benefit  Society  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  America,  and  is  established 
for  the  benefit  of  destitute  superannuated  preachers,  their  widows  and 
orphans. 

ARTICLE    II. 

Any  preacher  of  this  Connection  may  become  a  member  of  this  Society 
by  paying  one  dollar  initiation  and  the  further  sum  of  one  dollar  annually. 

ARTICLE    III. 

No  minister  shall  be  entitled  to  share  in  the  benefits  of  this  Society  who 
is  not  a  contributor,  and  who  has  not  done  at  least  five  years'  effective 
service  in  the  itinerancy  of  the  Connection. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       529 
ARTICLE    IV. 

The  funds  of  this  Society  shall  be  paid  over  to  the  General  Agent  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Book  Concern,  and  shall  be  considered 
a  loan  to  said  concern  so  long  as  they  may  be  needed. 

ARTICLE   V. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Agent  to  keep  a  separate  book  for  such  funds, 
which  shall  contain  the  names  of  each  contributor  and  the  Conference 
within  whose  bounds  he  or  she  may  reside. 

ARTICLE    VI. 

Dividends  shall  be  made  annually  of  the  interest  at  six  per  cent  to  each 
yearly  Conference  in  proportion  to  the  amount  which  has  been  paid  from 
within  the  bounds  of  each  Conference,  which  dividends  shall  commence 
when  one  thousand  dollars  have  been  paid  in,  and  which  the  Conferences 
may  have  added  to  the  capital,  when  there  are  no  such  cases  as  specified 
in  the  first  and  third  Articles. 

ARTICLE   VII. 

The  General  Agent  shall  give  his  receipt  for  all  moneys  paid  him  for  the 
above  purpose,  which  receipts  shall  be  entered  in  a  book  kept  by  the  sev- 
eral yearly  Conferences  for  that  purpose. 

ARTICLE   VIII. 

When  the  permanent  funds  of  this  Society  are  no  longer  needed  in  the 
Book  Concern  they  shall  be  loaned  at  six  per  cent  on  security  of  real  estate 
to  at  least  twice  the  amount  of  the  loan,  and  the  interest  shall  be  paid  an- 
nually to  the  General  Agent,  who  shall  pay  the  same  to  the  several  Annual 
Conferences  as  specified  in  Article  6. 

ARTICLE    IX. 

The  business  of  this  Society  shall  be  conducted  by  a  Committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  General  Conference,  to  consist  of  an  equal  number  of  min- 
isters from  each  Annual  Conference. 

ARTICLE    X. 

When  contributors  shall  remove  from  one  Conference  to  another,  or 
when  alterations  shall  be  made  in  the  boundaries  of  Conferences,  the  book 
of  the  Agent  shall  be  so  regulated  as  to  give  each  Conference  its  proper 
claim,  he  being  duly  notified. 

ARTICLE   XI. 

Each  yearly  Conference  shall  appropriate  its  portion  of  dividends  among 
its  proper  claimants  according  to  the  judgment  of  necessities. 


530  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

ARTICLE    XII. 

This  Constitution  may  be  altered  or  amended  by  a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers at  any  General  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  in  America,  so  as  not  to  affect  its  general  principles. 

The  General  Conference  adjourned  after  eighteen  days'  session,  to  meet 
on  the  fourth  Saturday  in  June  in  Wesley  Church,  city  of  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  1852.  Christopher  Rush,  Ge7ieral  Superintendent. 

George  Galbreth,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

Sampson  Talbot,  Secretary. 

The  reader  may  be  puzzled  to  know  why  the  General 
Conference  adopted  the  title  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  in  1868,  when  that  title  had  been  adopted  by  the 
General  Conference  in  1848.  The  explanation  may  be 
found  in  the  fact  previously  mentioned,  that  the  connection 
split  in  1852,  and  was  sundered  for  eight  years.  During 
that  period  the  eastern  portion  was  called  Zion  and  the 
western  portion  Wesley.  After  the  reunion,  which  took 
place  in  i860,  the  titles  got  slightly  mixed;  it  therefore 
became  necessary  in  1868  to  declare  again  the  correct  title. 

In  speaking  of  the  disruption,  we  have  mentioned  the 
fact  that  there  were  some  circumstances  connected  with 
it  which  were  not  entirely  clear.  In  the  package  of  Min- 
utes which  we  found  with  Sister  Hasbrook  are  the  Minutes 
of  1857,  in  which  we  find  the  following  circular,  published 
by  Bishop  William  H.  Bishop,  giving  his  version  of  the 
matter.  Most  that  we  have  previously  given  came  from 
the  other  side.  We  should  have  inserted  this  with  the  other 
matter  if  we  had  discovered  it  in  time.    We  insert  it  here : 

circular. 

In  the  Annual  Conference  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Con- 
nection for  the  Philadelphia  District,  1857,  the  defense  of  our  cause  being 
the  special  order  of  the  day,  the  following  prevailed,  to  wit : 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       53 1 

Whereas,  The  circular  emanating  from  the  pen  of  the  general  superin- 
tendent, William  H.  Bishop,  presents  a  clear  and  lucid  exposition  of  the 
grounds  of  the  difficulties  which  resulted  in  the  excommunication  of  a 
number  of  the  ministers  formerly  belonging  to  this  connection — now  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  James  Simmons  and  Solomon  T.  Scott  (the  so-called 
superintendents),  under  the  falsely  assumed  title  of  this  connection  ;  there- 
fore, 

Resolved,  That  this  Conference  fully  indorse  the  views  therein  contained 
and  set  forth,  and  that  there  be,  and  it  is  hereby  ordered,  that  five  hundred 
copies  of  said  circular  be  printed  for  circulation  through  this  District. 

To  the  Ministers,  Members,  and  Friends  of  theAfrica?i  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church  in  America,  greeting  : 

Beloved  Brethren — We  doubt  not  you  have  seen  and  read  a  circu- 
lar letter  sent  to  certain  individuals,  emanating  from  George  A.  Spywood 
and  John  Tappin,  calling  themselves  general  and  assistant  superintendents 
of  the  above-named  connection.  Dear  brethren,  you  should  not  be  hasty 
in  your  conclusions  in  reference  to  so  great  and  important  a  matter,  but 
hear  both  sides  of  the  question  and  judge  impartially,  and  not  suffer  your 
minds  to  be  prejudiced,  but  examine  carefully  and  prayerfully,  with  an  eye 
single  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom. 

Beloved  brethren  in  Christ,  suffer  me  here  to  say  to  you  that  there  is 
some  truth  set  forth  in  that  circular,  accompanied  with  a  great  deal  of 
what  is  not  strictly  true.  Notice  first,  in  regard  to  the  Constitution  in  ref- 
erence, to  making  new  rules  or  revising  those  already  made.  See  Disci- 
pline, page  68,  article  1st,  2d,  and  3d,  and  page  69,  etc.  Dear  friends, 
every  section  and  every  article  we  hold  sacred.  Sirs,  I  have  been  a  minis- 
ter in  this  connection  for  some  time  ;  I  joined  it,  the  Zion's  Church  in  New 
York,  in  September,  1825.  In  May,  1826,  I  joined  the  Annual  Conference 
as  a  traveling  preacher.  Father  Abraham  Thompson,  one  of  the  founders  of 
Zion's  Church,  and  Rev.  James  Varick,  the  first  superintendent,  were  then 
living.  He,  Varick,  served  the  first  term  as  superintendent ;  he  was  elected 
for  the  second  term,  but  before  the  expiration  of  that  term  God  was  pleased  to 
call  him  from  labor  to  reward.  We  then  numbered  about  ten  Conference 
ministers,  and  of  that  number  there  are  but  three  living,  who  are  of  no 
longer  standing  than  myself,  and  here  you  have  their  names :  Rev.  Levin 
Smith,  Christopher  Rush,  and  George  Tredwell. 

After  the  death  of  the  first  superintendent  we  elected  Rev.  Levin  Smith, 
who  was  then  our  choice,  but  he  declined  ;  we  then  elected  Rev.  Christo- 
pher Rush  to  that  office.  The  superintendent  is  elected  to  serve  four 
years  and  no  longer,  unless  reelected.  Rev.  Christopher  Rush  was  elected 
in  1828.  From  that  time  he  was  reelected  every  four  years  until  1852, 
making  twenty-four  years,  during  which    time  he  became    destitute  or 


532  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

deprived  of  his  natural  sight,  so  that  he  could  not  perform  the  duties  of  a 
superintendent  any  longer.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  members  of  the 
General  Conference,  feeling  it  their  privilege  as  well  as  their  duty,  which 
right  belongs  to  them,  to  elect  to  the  superintendency  a  man  of  their  own 
choice,  they  did  elect  Rev.  William  H.  Bishop  general  superintendent  in 
1852,  and  did  unanimously  elect  him  general  superintendent  in  1856,  and 
did  also  unanimously  elect  Rev.  Joseph  J.  Clinton  assistant  superintendent. 

Dear  friends,  I  am  not  a  stranger  in  the  connection.  Many  of  you  know 
me  from  the  time  I  joined  the  connection.  I  was  called  and  owned  as  a 
worthy  brother,  and  held  in  high  repute  up  to  1852.  But  when  I  was 
elected  superintendent,  then  those  office  seekers  showed  themselves  to  be 
my  enemies.  In  their  circular  they  inform  you  that  we  wish  to  deprive 
you  of  your  privileges  ;  those  statements  are  not  true,  but  to  the  reverse, 
for  instead  of  depriving  the  Quarterly  Conferences  of  their  privileges,  the 
intention  of  the  General  Conference  of  1852  was,  and  still  is,  to  give  them 
more.  It  is  true,  we  know  that  we  cannot  alter  or  change  our  rules  with- 
out the  consent  of  two  thirds  of  the  Quarterly  Conferences  of  the  entire 
connection,  as  you  may  see  in  the  circular  in  reference  to  the  convention. 

Again  they  say,  I  lost  or  gave  my  office  by  putting  an  unconstitutional 
motion.  Ah,  how  low  the  acts  of  those  men  are,  striving  to  take  advan- 
tage and  making  wrong  impressions  upon  the  uninformed  and  weak 
minds  !  God  will,  ere  long,  set  matters  right.  They  say  that  the  rule  was 
suspended  to  get  the  third  superintendent,  and  the  rule  remained  so.  Ah, 
how  erroneous  the  idea  is !  How  often  is  the  like  done  in  deliberative 
bodies;  yes,  even  in  Congress,  in  Parliament,  and  among  religious  bodies. 
But  it  is  so  strange.  The  suspension  of  rule  is  part  of  their  own  doings  in 
General  Conference  of  1852,  when  we  were  all  together,  but  they  (having 
lost  their  power,  as  they  thought),  when  arriving  in  New  York,  called  their 
council  and  there  devised  these  low,  cunning  plans  to  effect  their  unright- 
eous designs,  and  to  captivate  weak  minds,  telling  those  innocent  ones  that 
we  wanted  to  take  their  property  away  from  them,  thus  flattering  and  de- 
ceiving them  ;  while  at  the  same  time  were  they  taken  helpless  to-morrow 
they  would  have  to  be  sent  or  compelled  to  go  to  the  poorhouse,  the  aged 
home,  after  spending  their  hard  earnings  to  pay  for  that  property.  .  .  . 

It  is  true  that  our  book  of  Discipline  knows  but  two  superintendents, 
the  general  and  assistant.  The  book  of  Discipline  never  knew  any 
assistant  until  1848.  But  C.  Rush  tolerated  it,  and  it  was  said  to  be  right. 
Much  more  here  might  be  said  which  was  unconstitutionally  sanctioned 
by  the  Rev.  C.  Rush.  Had  he  and  his  party  been  set  at  the  head  of 
affairs  in  1852,  all  would  have  been  right  with  them  to-day — for  the  acts 
in  that  General  Conference  are  but  as  ciphers  compared  with  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  of  1840.  See  that  book  signed  by  himself  unlawfully, 
and  in   1843,  sitting  in   Conference  with  the  same,  asking  questions  out 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       533 

of  that  unlawfully  revised  book,  and  then  assumed  the  power  that  was 
not  guaranteed  to  him  in  that  he  told  the  members  of  the  New  York  and 
Philadelphia  Conferences  to  use  either  or  both  books  of  Discipline  until 
the  General  Conference.  This  was  wrong  ;  but  no  one  tried  to  remove 
Rev.  C.  Rush  from  office  for  putting  that  unconstitutional  motion  in  the 
General  Conference  of  1840.  I  here  forbear.  Again  to  the  book  of  Dis- 
cipline. The  present  book  knows  but  two  superintendents,  the  general 
and  assistant.  We  were  all  in  General  Conference  assembled  in  Philadel- 
phia, in  1852,  and  were  in  the  act  of  revising  the  Discipline.  The  senti- 
ments of  that  body,  even  those  who  now  strive  to  take  the  advantage,  were 
that,  in  their  judgment,  the  connection  stood  in  need  of  three  superintend- 
ents. But  we  could  not  get  the  third  one  unless  we  suspended  the  rule 
and  elected  one  prospectively,  but  not  to  act  as  such,  until  there  should  be 
sanction  given  to  the  revised  matter  by  a  two  third  vote  of  the  Quarterly 
Conferences  of  the  entire  connection.  Here  the  question  may  arise,  why 
was  Spywood's  name  on  the  circular  with  Rev.  William  H.  Bishop  and 
Rev.  George  Galbreth  ?  The  answer  is,  that  it  was  the  expressed  opinion 
of  that  body  that  at  the  next  annual  session  the  consent  of  the  required 
majority  of  the  Quarterly  Conferences  would  be  obtained,  as  they  had  al- 
ready the  consent  of  a  great  number  of  them. 

The  circular  pointing  out  the  defect,  with  the  alterations  which  were 
wanting  to  be  made,  was  sent  out  in  good  faith.  But  ah  !  to  our  surprise, 
the  disaffected  office-seeking  brethren,  instead  of  acting  in  good  faith,  ran 
to  the  old  church  and  raised  a  hue  and  cry,  saying  that  William  H.  Bishop 
and  the  General  Conference  were  about  to  destroy  their  church,  their  old 
Mother  Church,  by  changing  the  name  of  the  connection,  which  caused  a 
great  excitement.  They  said  if  the  name  was  changed  they  would  lose 
their  property,  their  beloved  Zion  in  New  York. 

This  game  went  on  till  1853,  when  that  party  called  a  convention,  as 
they  say,  while  I  was  in  Allegheny  City,  Pa.,  holding  an  Annual  Confer- 
ence, at  which  time,  they  say  in  their  own  publication,  they  resolved 
themselves  into  a  General  Conference — which  is  truly  a  new  thing  under 
the  sun;  and  that  done  in  Zion,  called  the  Mother  Church — with  closed 
doors,  and  there  elected,  as  they  say  in  their  own  publication,  three 
superintendents,  namely,  George  A.  Spywood,  Robert  C.  Henderson, 
and  John  Tappin. 

They  elected  three  superintendents  in  open  violation  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  Church,  and  now  that  broken,  disaffected  party,  in  a  circular  letter, 
charges  the  General  Conference  proper  with  violating  the  rules  of  the 
Church.  It  is  well  known  that  the  presidential  election  of  these  United 
States  takes  place  every  four  years ;  there  are  two  or  more  candidates 
for  that  office  ;  one  of  these  candidates,  with  his  vice,  is  elected  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     Let 


534  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

us  suppose  a  case  :  suppose  that  the  friends  of  the  minority  candidates, 
being  dissatisfied,  should  meet  in  one  of  these  United  States,  in  one  of  the 
cities  or  towns,  and  enter  into  some  hall,  and  there  with  closed  doors 
should  hold  an  election  with  their  candidate,  then  come  out  and  publish 
to  the  world  that  he,  whomsoever  he  might  be,  was  President  of  these 
United  States,  would  that  be  true  ?  The  answer  is  at  hand,  No.  You 
would  look  upon  that  party  as  rebels.  This  is  a  parallel  case.  The  party 
now  cleaving"  to  the  old  house,  corner  of  Church  and  Leonard  Streets, 
New  York,  is  the  party  that  pursued  this  rebellious  course,  and  they  are 
making  a  noise  before  the  public,  claiming  to  be  the  connection  proper, 
which  is  not  true. 

Zion  was  never  a  connectional  name  until  1848.  At  that  General  Con- 
ference our  present  book  was  revised,  and  the  present  name  of  the  connec- 
tion given  for  the  first  time.  The  book  was  published  in  185 1.  Look  at  the 
7th  page,  Committee's  Address,  page  8,  the  names  of  the  said  committee; 
see  the  old  book  of  1820,  which  is  or  was  the  name,  the  doctrine  or  disci- 
pline, of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  America.  This  was 
the  proper  name  of  the  connection  until  1848,  when  the  committee,  as 
named  on  the  8th  page  of  the  present  book,  named  the  connection,  which 
was  sanctioned  by  the  General  Conference.  Read  for  yourselves,  and  do 
not  be  deceived. 

Spywood  and  Tappin,  who  were  said  to  be  their  superintendents,  did 
not  continue  their  four  years,  but  instead  of  four  years  their  party  was 
glad  to  get  rid  of  them  in  three  years  ;  no  doubt  of  that,  for  notwithstand- 
ing things  as  they  are,  there  are  honorable  exceptions,  for  there  are 
brethren  and  sons  among  them  who  are  near  and  dear  to  me. 

James  Simmons  and  Solomon  T.  Scott,  of  the  disaffected  party,  were 
elected  by  that  party,  the  former  general,  the  latter  assistant  superin- 
tendent, in  June,  1856.  He  (Scott),  who  was  an  office  seeker  in  1852,  but 
he  being  disappointed  in  that,  he  was  not  elected  superintendent,  but  he 
received  an  appointment  from  me  until  the  last  Conference,  1855,  when  he 
(Scott)  located  and  joined  the  Quarterly  Conference  of  Wesley  Church, 
Lombard  Street,  Philadelphia,  held  his  standing  as  a  local  elder,  went  to 
work  holding  private  council  with  the  disaffected  party  in  New  York,  and 
he  (Scott)  for  less  than  a  mess  of  pottage  sold  himself  and  joined  them, 
after  calling  them  after  the  names  of  many  of  his  fish,  as  set  forth  in  his 
sermon,  and  he  called  them  anything  but  Christians  and  gentlemen 
wherever  he  went.  After  all  this,  thinking  there  was  not  a  chance  for  him 
in  the  connection  proper,  he  was  determined  to  look  out  for  a  chance  once 
more.  Away  he  goes  and  salutes  the  disaffected  party,  and  by  his  acts 
says,  Hail,  brethren  !  and  kisses  them.  They  made  him  their  assistant 
superintendent.  He,  of  course,  will  be  a  stool  pigeon,  to  try  to  draw  away 
from  our  beloved  connection  members  by  a  refuge  of  lies. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       535 

Ministers,  official  boards,  members,  and  friends  of  our  beloved  connec- 
tion, stand  together,  be  upon  the  watch,  stand  firm  ;  the  good  Lord  has 
enabled  us  to  guide  the  ship  safely  through  that  trying  term,  I  may  say 
single-handed,  and  as  the  brethren  have  given  me  an  assistant,  under  God 
we  feel  to  be  strong. 

William  H.  Bishop,  General  Superintendent. 

Joseph  J.  Clinton,  Assistant  Superintendent. 

In  the    Minutes    of    1853    we    find   specimens    of    the 

poetical  genius  of  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  and  Rev.  Henry 

A.  Thompson : 

a  voice  from  the  south.* 

While  anxious  mortals  strive  in  vain 
The  sunimum  bonum  to  obtain, 

Each  takes  a  different  way. 
Their  aims  are  leveled  in  the  dark, 
Their  arrows  drop  before  the  mark, 

Or  far  beyond  it  stray. 

The  miser  heaps  up  golden  ore, 
Surveys  the  glittering  mammon  o'er, 
And  thinks  he's  gained  the  prize; 
His  bliss,  alas  !  is  soon  destroyed, 
His  treasures  vanish  unenjoyed, 
.    And  he,  repining,  dies. 

Others  pursue  the  path  of  fame, 
,  Striving  to  gain  a  lasting  name, 

Toil  up  the  steep  ascent ; 
Whilst  the  least  blast  that  scandal  breathes 
Mildews  their  never-fading  wreaths, 

And  mars  the  true  content. 

God,  who  is  love,  decreed  it  so, 
Lest  we  should  fix  on  things  below, 

And  never  look  to  Him 
Who  only  has  the  power  to  bless, 
From  whom  derives  all  happiness, 

The  fountain  and  the  stream. 

*  Lines  written  and  dedicated  to  Rev.  William  H.  Bishop,  the  General  Superintendent  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  America,  by  Rev.  J.  J.  Clinton. 

36 


536  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


A  VOICE   FROM   THE   EAST  * 

Be  bold,  be  firm,  be  strong,  be  true, 

And  dare  to  stand  alone  ; 
Strive  for  the  right  whate'er  ye  do, 

Though  helpers  there  be  none. 

Nay,  bend  not  to  the  swelling  surge 

Of  popular  sneer  and  wrong  ; 
'Twill  bear  thee  on  to  ruin's  verge 

With  current  wild  and  strong. 

Stand  for  the  right  though  falsehood  rail 

And  proud  lips  coldly  sneer  ; 
A  poisoned  arrow  cannot  wound 

A  conscience  pure  and  clear. 

Stand  for  the  right,  and  with  clean  hands 

Exalt  the  truth  on  high  ; 
Thou'lt  find  warm,  sympathizing  hearts 

Among  the  passers-by. 

Men  who  have  seen,  and  thought,  and  felt, 

Yet  could  not  singly  dare 
The  battle's  brunt,  but  by  thy  side 

Will  every  danger  share. 

Stand  for  the  right,  proclaim  it  loud  ; 

Thou'lt  find  an  answering  tone 
In  honest  hearts,  and  thou'lt  no  more 

Be  doomed  to  stand  alone. 

MRS.    KATIE    WALTERS. 

Mrs.  Katie  Walters,  wife  of  Bishop  Alexander  Walters, 
and  daughter  of  Louis  and  Kittie  Knox,  was  born  in 
Louisville,  Ky.,  August  18,  1856.  She  had  the  advan- 
tages of  the  public  schools  in  Louisville,  has  been  a 
member  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church 

*  Dedicated  to  Rev.  William  H.  Bishop,  General  Superintendent  of  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  America,  by  Rev.  Henry  A.  Thompson. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZlON    CHURCH.       537 

since  1877,  and  was  married  to  Bishop  Walters,  August 
28,  1877,  at  Indianapolis,  Ind.  Mrs.  Walters  isan  exem- 
plary and  very  successful  minister's  wife ;  she  under- 
stands the  art  of  adapting  herself  to  her  surroundings ; 
is  intelligent,  modest,  cultured,  thoughtful,  and  in  every 
way  fitted  for  the  position  which  she  occupies.     She  has 


MRS.    KATIE    WALTERS. 


served  faithfully  with  her  husband  in  the  following 
charges:  Corydon,  Cloverport,  and  Louisville,  Ky. ;  San 
Francisco,  Cal.  ;  Chattanooga  and  Knoxville,  Tenn.  ; 
and  New  York  city.  She  has  been  vice  president  of 
the  Woman's  Home  and  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
of  the  California  and  New  Jersey  Conferences,  and 
was    successful    last  year  in   raising  the  largest  amount 


538  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

reported  in  the  New  Jersey  Conference  for  many  years. 
She  is  a  model  housekeeper,  a  hospitable  entertainer,  an 
earnest  church  worker,  an  affectionate  wife  and  mother, 
has  a  kind  word  and  smile  for  all,  and  is  greatly  loved  by 
those  who  know  her. 

SISTER    MARY    ROBERTS. 

We  have  desired  greatly  to  present  a  sketch  of  the  life 
of  Sister  Mary  Roberts,  the  founder  of  the  society 
known  as  the  Daughters  of  Conference.  The  great 
work  accomplished  by  these  societies  is  a  monument  to 
her  wisdom.  No  other  organization  did  so  much  for  the 
building  up  of  Zion  Church  in  its  early  history.  The 
Daughters  of  Conference  furnished  the  means  to  send 
missionaries  to  the  South,  by  which  the  borders  of  Zion 
were  extended  to  that  land. 

Sister  Mary  Roberts  was  elected  president  of  the  first 
society  of  Daughters  of  Conference  in  the  mother  Zion 
Church,  New  York  city,  and  continued  in  that  office  until 
her  decease.  The  reason  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Daughters  of  Conference  was  that  the  sisters  of  the 
Church  might  largely  assist  in  meeting  the  needs  of  the 
ministers  who  had  no  stated  salary. 

MRS.    SARAH    E.    C.    DUDLEY    PETTEY. 

Sarah  E.  C.  D.  Pettey  was  born  in  the  city  of  New 
Berne,  N.  C,  November  9,  1868.  At  the  age  of  six  she 
was  reading  and  writing,  having  been  taught  at  home  by 
her  mother.  She  then  entered  the  graded  school.  After 
leaving  this  institution  she  entered  and  completed  the 
course  in  the  State  Normal  School  under  the  instruction 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       539 

of  Hon.  George  H.  White.  At  the  age  of  twelve  Miss 
Dudley  entered  the  Scotia  Seminary  at  Concord,  N.  C. 
After  graduating  there  with  first  honors  she  began  teach- 
ing in  her  native  city  as  second  assistant  in  the  graded 


MRS.    SARAH   E.    C    DUDLEY    PETTEY. 


school,  which  position  she  held  for  two  years.  She  was 
then  promoted  to  assistant  principal,  serving  five  years, 
and  for  two  years  acted  as  assistant  professor  in  the  County 
Teachers'  Normal  Institute,  continuing  thus  occupied  until 
she  married.  Sunday  schools  and  missionary  societies 
have  always  had  in  her  a  stanch  friend  and  advocate. 


54Q 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


i#!a#'.,,, 


MB,:. 


''fillip- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH-       541 
HON.    FREDERICK    DOUGLASS. 

My  connection  with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  began  in  1838.  This  was  soon  after  my 
escape  from  slavery  and  my  arrival  in  New  Bedford. 
Before  leaving  Maryland  I  was  a  member  of  the  Meth- 
odist Church  in  Dallas  Street,  Baltimore,  and  should  have 
joined  a  branch  of  that  Church  in  New  Bedford,  Mass., 
had  I  not  discovered  the  spirit  of  prejudice  and  the  un- 
holy connection  of  that  Church  with  slavery.  Hence  I 
joined  a  little  branch  of  Zion,  of  which  Rev.  William 
Serrington  was  the  minister.  I  found  him  a  man  of  deep 
piety,  and  of  high  intelligence.  His  character  attracted 
me,  and  I  received  from  him  much  excellent  advice  and 
brotherly  sympathy.  When  he  was  removed  to  another 
station  Bishop  Rush  sent  us  a  very  different  man,  in  the 
person  of  Rev.  Peter  Ross,  a  man  of  high  character,  but 
of  very  little  education.  After  him  came  Rev.  Thomas 
James.  I  was  deeply  interested  not  only  in  these  min- 
isters, but  also  in  Revs.  Jehill  Beman,  Dempsy  Kennedy, 
John  P.  Thompson,  and  Leven  Smith,  all  of  whom 
visited  and  preached  in  the  little  schoolhouse  on  Second 
Street,  New  Bedford,  while  I  resided  there.  My  ac- 
'  quaintance  with  Bishop  Rush  was  also  formed  while  I 
was  in  New  Bedford. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  tell  how  far  my  connection 
with  these  devoted  men  influenced  my  career.  As  early 
as  1839  I  obtained  a  license  from  the  Quarterly  Confer- 
ence as  a  local  preacher,  and  often  occupied  the  pulpit  by 
request  of  the  preacher  in  charge.  No  doubt  that  the 
exercise  of  my  gifts  in  this  vocation,  and  my  association 


542  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

with  the  excellent  men  to  whom  I  have  referred,  helped 
to  prepare  me  for  the  wider  sphere  of  usefulness  which  I 
have  since  occupied.  It  was  from  this  Zion  church  that 
I  went  forth  to  the  work  of  delivering  my  brethren  from 
bondage,  and  this  new  vocation,  which  separated  me 
from  New  Bedford  and  finally  so  enlarged  my  views  of 
duty,  separated  me  also  from  the  calling  of  a  local 
preacher.  My  connection  with  the  little  church  con- 
tinued long  after  I  was  in  the  antislavery  field.  I  look 
back  to  the  days  I  spent  in  little  Zion,  New  Bedford,  in 
the  several  capacities  of  sexton,  steward,  class  leader, 
clerk,  and  local  preacher,  as  among  the  happiest  days  of 
my  life.  Frederick  Douglass. 

REV.  JEHU    HOLLIDAY,  D.D., 
General  Book  Agent. 

Jehu  Holliday  was  born  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  December 
25,  1827.  He  was  converted  in  November,  i860,  and 
joined  the  Church  under  the  administration  of  Rev.  Joseph 
Armstrong,  the  great  pioneer  Zion  preacher  in  Ohio.  He 
joined  the  Allegheny  Conference  in  1861,  and  was  or- 
dained deacon  in  the  morning,  and  elder  at  night,  at  the 
Conference  in  1862,  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton.  Rev.  Nevin 
Woodside,  pastor  of  the  First  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  refers  to  Brother  Holliday  as  fol- 
lows: 

"  Rev.  Jehu  Holliday,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church, 
now  presiding  elder  of  this  district,  has  been  known  to  me  personally  and 
intimately  for  the  past  nine  or  ten  years.  I  have  been  a  close  observer  of 
his  life  and  labors  during  that  time,  having  resided  near  him  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  people  among  whom  he  labored.  He  is  thoroughly  conversant 
with  the  book  of  books,  the  Bible.  His  knowledge  of  that  book  is  not 
speculative  or  theoretical,  but  practical,  influencing  his  own  life,  and  con- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       543 

sequently  the  lives  of  those  around  him.  His  labors  for  the  advancement 
of  his  brethren  have  been  untiring  and  most  successful.  I  have  occupied 
his  pulpit  on  several  occasions,  and  he  has  stood  side  by  side  with  me  in 
mine.  His  labors  in  the  Eleventh  Ward  of  Pittsburg  have  been  highly 
beneficial  to  all  classes  of  society.  The  financial,  social,  moral,  and 
spiritual  advancement  of  his  people  has  been  very  evident  to  me  and  to  the 
entire  community  here.  This  advancement  can  be  traced  to  his  energy, 
perseverance,  sound  judgment,  and  fidelity,  under  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God.  He  is  a  man  of  commanding  presence,  firm  as  the  unbending  oak, 
and  gentle  as  a  child.  He  stands  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  commu- 
nity for  his  self-denial,  honesty,  and  zeal.  By  his  fervid  and  eloquent  dis- 
courses he  has  commanded  the  attention  and  respect  of  professional  and 
business  men  wherever  he  has  been  heard.  On  the  first  Sabbath  of 
August,  1888,  accompanied  by  Rev.  Dr.  Ferguson,  of  Ireland,  a  learned 
Presbyterian  divine,  I  visited  a  camp  meeting  at  Wilkinsburg,  Pa.,  Rev. 
Jehu  Holliday  presided  at  that  meeting.  There  were  between  two  and  three 
thousand  people  present,  Africans,  Germans,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Americans. 
Dr.  Ferguson  preached  an  able  and  touching  sermon  on  the  parable  of  the 
Prodigal  Son.  Through  respect  to  our  views  on  the  worship  of  God,  Mr. 
Holliday  stopped  the  organ.  He  knew  that  we  were  opposed  to  the  use 
of  instrumental  music  in  the  worship  of  God,  and  with  that  nice  balancing 
of  judgment  and  just  appreciation  of  our  conscientious  scruples  he  dis- 
pensed with  the  instrument  and  used  the  superior  one  made  by  the  hand 
of  the  great  Creator,  his  own  powerful  and  melodious  voice.  He  led  the 
vast  congregation  in  singing  one  of  their  own  familiar  hymns,  '  Over 
there.'  He  then  followed  with  an  address  that  would  have  done  honor 
to  Wesley  or  Spurgeon.  In  that  audience  were  magistrates,  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  professors  in  our  colleges  and  public  schools,  wealthy  mer- 
chants, and  active  newspaper  men.  They  were  all  solemnized  and  many 
of  them  moved  to  tears  by  his  fervid  and  pure  eloquence.  There  was  no 
disorder  or  levity  there.  It  was  God's  house,  and  all  present  felt  it  to  be 
such.  We  can  never  forget  the  appearance  of  the  orator.  He  is  tall  and 
strongly  built.  He  left  the  platform  and  stood  on  the  grass.  His  own 
heart  had  been  moved  by  the  sermon  to  which  he  had  listened  and  he  was 
prepared  to  move  others.  His  body  seemed  to  dilate,  his  countenance 
beamed  with  intelligence  and  pleasure,  his  eye  sparkled  and  seemed  to 
stand  out  as  he  spoke  of  the  blessed  prospect  of  meeting  his  white  brethren 
in  heaven.  His  powerful  voice  echoed  among  the  forest  trees  and  fell  in 
musical  cadences  upon  the  ears  of  the  audience.  No  man  but  one  pos- 
sessed of  superior  powers  of  mind  and  heart  could  have  delivered  such  an 
address.  His  loyalty  to  Christ,  his  love  for  the  Bible  and  its  glorious 
Author,  his  Christian  patriotism,  his  love  for  Christ's  people  of  all  de- 
nominations, and  his  burning  desire  for  the  elevation  and  salvation  of  his 


544  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

race  were  ingredients  in  that  memorable  discourse.  It  was  no  empty  or 
spread-eagle  oration,  but  a  solid  subduing  and  sanctifying  address,  that 
could  only  be  delivered  by  a  man  whose  heart  had  been  touched  with  the 
spirit  of  the  living  God.  Truth  and  love  dropped  from  his  lips  and  beamed 
from  his  countenance.  Such  a  man  will  fill  any  office  in  the  gift  of  his 
Church,  and  will  honor  any  evangelical  denomination  of  Christians." 

REV.    MARK    M.    BELL. 

Rev.  Mark  M.  Bell  was  born  in  Anne  Arundel  County, 
Md.  He  was  converted  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  of  the  same  county,  of  which  he  afterward  be- 
came a  member  in  August,  1 86 1.  On  moving  to  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  in  the  spring  of  1863,  he  united  with  Galbreth 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  under  the 
pastorate  of  Rev.  R.  H.  G.  Dyson.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  under  Rev.  James  A.  Jones,  June,  1866,  and  ad- 
mitted into  the  Baltimore  (now  Philadelphia  and  Balti- 
more) Conference,  April  17,  1867,  Bishop  William  H. 
Bishop,  presiding.  He  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop 
Singleton  T.  Jones,  at  Wesley  Zion  (Metropolitan) 
Church,  Washington,  D.  C,  April  25,  1869,  and  elder  by 
Bishop  J.  W.  Loguen  in  Union  Wesley  Church,  District 
of  Columbia,  May  16,  1871.  He  attended  school  at 
Howard  University  several  terms,  beginning  in  the  spring 
of  1867.  He  has  served  the  following  charges,  namely: 
Brightwood  Circuit,  embracing  Brightwood,  Rock  Creek, 
D.  C,  and  Zion  Church,  Baltimore,  Md.,  May,  1869-71 
(with  Baltimore  detached  and  made  a  station  after 
the  first  year,  and  Rockville,  Md.,  added).  The  member- 
ship was  increased,  a  lot  was  purchased,  and  a  building 
erected  at  Rock  Creek  worth  $630,  and  paid  for  except 
$191.  Through  the  influence  of  a  minister  who  left  the 
connection  this  church  was  carried  over  to  the  Methodist 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       545 

Protestant  denomination  some  years  later.  His  next 
appointment  was  Arlington,  Va.,  May,  1872.  A  revival 
breaking  out  in  this  church  about  the  middle  of  the  fol- 
lowing August  resulted  in  many  conversions.  After 
serving  a  year  at  this  church  he  met  the  first  session  of 
the  consolidated  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference 
at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  was  transferred  to  the  Alle- 
gheny Conference  and  stationed  at  Avery  Mission 
Church,  Allegheny  City,  Pa.  In  May,  1873-74,  in  this, 
as  in  former  charges,  revivals  attended  his  ministry, 
and  fifty-four  were  added  to  the  church,  also  a  society 
was  organized  at  Jack's  Run,  Pa.  (now  called  Bellevue 
Church).  He  was  transferred  back  to  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  Conference  and  stationed  at  Wesley 
Church,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  May,  1875,  where  he  remained 
three  years.  Both  the  spiritual  and  financial  condition 
of  this  church  continued  good,  with  an  addition  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty-eight  persons  to  the  membership. 
While  in  this  charge  the  following  mission  work  was 
organized  :  St.  Mark's,  corner  of  Twenty-first  and  Oxford 
Streets,  Philadelphia,  with  1 5  members  and  Sunday  school, 
October  18,  1876 ;  Mount  Olive,  Agate  Street,  near  Frank- 
ford  Road,  with  35  members  and  Sunday  school,  Feb- 
ruary, 1877.  The  Church  at  Wilmington,  Del.,  was  re- 
ceived with  35  members,  a  minister  and  Sunday  school. 
In  the  summer  of  1877  he  purchased  ground  and  built  a 
church  at  Frankford,  Pa.,  at  a  cost  of  $1,800,  and  paid 
several  hundred  dollars  of  the  indebtedness.  In  May, 
1878,  he  was  appointed  to  the  Philadelphia  Mission. 
Over  forty  persons  were  added  to  the  membership  at 
St.  Mark's,  Mount  Olive,  and  Frankford,  and  the  debt  on 


546  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Frankford  Church  was  reduced  to  about  $650.  In  May, 
1880,  he  was  appointed  to  the  charge  of  the  Church  at 
York,  Pa.,  which  charge  he  resigned  on  account  of  de- 
clining health,  and  sought  a  more  southern  climate;  but 
God  overruled  his  plans,  and  he  spent  the  year  preach- 
ing and  lecturing  wherever  he  found  an  open  door,  held 
services  in  his  own  house  at  Burrville,  D.  C,  and 
organized  the  Burrville  Mission  and  Sunday  school, 
January,  1881.  His  next  appointment  was  Union  Wes- 
ley, Washington,  D.  C,  where  he  served  one  year,  and 
was  then  appointed  to  the  Church  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  May, 
1882.  A  revival  resulted  in  many  conversions  and  47 
accessions  to  the  church.  A  stone  church  and  ground 
80x90  were  purchased  at  a  cost  of  $1,200  (worth  $6,000), 
repairs,  $300 ;  all  of  which  was  paid  during  the  three 
years  of  his  administration.  In  May,  1885,  he  was  ap- 
pointed Presiding  Elder  over  the  Philadelphia  District. 
In  May,  1886,  he  was  appointed  Missionary  Agent.  In 
May,  1887,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Tennessee  Confer- 
ence and  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Georgia  Dis- 
trict of  that  Conference,  which  he  was  compelled  to  resign 
before  the  year  expired,  owing  to  sickness  and  death  in 
his  family.  He  then  again  returned  to  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  Conference  and  was  appointed  to  the 
Rockville,  Md.,  Circuit.  In  May,  1889,  he  was  appointed 
to  the  Arlington  Circuit.  The  Spirit  of  God  was  poured 
out  in  the  conversion  of  a  goodly  number  of  persons, 
mostly  children.  The  new  church  begun  by  the  Rev.  J. 
F.  Waters  was  completed  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000,  which 
was  reduced  to  $400  or  less.  In  October,  1891,  he  was 
appointed  to  the  Washington  City  Mission.     A  Sabbath 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       547 

school  was  gathered  numbering  more  than  fifty  scholars 
and  a  few  members,  which  was  finally  merged  into  the 
Central  Mission  of  the  city.  In  September,  1892,  he 
was  transferred  to  the  Allegheny  Conference  and  ap- 
pointed to  Uniontown,  Pa.  God  is  greatly  blessing  his 
efforts  in  this  charge ;  many  have  been  converted,  and 
others  have  entered  into  the  Canaan  of  perfect  love.  The 
interior  of  the  church  building  has  been  tastefully  re- 
paired at  a  cost  of  $800,  and  this  debt  reduced  to  $366. 
He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  of 
1872,. but  was  absent  on  account  of  sickness.  He  was 
also  elected  as  delegate  to  represent  the  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference  in  the  General  Conferences  of 
1876,  1880,  1884,  1888.  He  served  as  bishop's  steward 
of  the  same  Conference  from  1876  to  1880.  He  originated 
and  presented  to  the  General  Conference  of  1880  the 
plan  for  the  formation  of  the  Woman's  Home  and  For- 
eign Missionary  Society,  and  General  Mission  Board  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  which  was 
adopted  by  that  Conference.  He  served  as  secretary  of 
the  General  Mission  Board  from  1880  to  1888. 

Brother  Bell  is  a  minister  of  marked  piety,  a  splen- 
did pastor,  and  is  among  the  most  useful  men  in  his 
Church.  He  teaches  by  precept  and  example,  and  always 
makes  a  good  impression  upon  his  congregation. 

HENRY    PAGE   DERRIT. 

Mr.  Henry  Page  Derrit  was  born  in  Madison  County, 
Va. ,  on  the  second  day  of  June,  1859.  His  early  boyhood 
was  spent  on  the  farm  of  his  former  owner.  His  father 
desired  him  to  learn  a  trade,  and  at  the  age  of  thirteen 


54§  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

years  sent  him  to  Charlotte ville,  where  he  entered  the 
blacksmith  shop  of  Rev.  Leewood  as  an  apprentice,  and 
remained  in  that  capacity  for  three  years.  On  account 
of  injuries  received  while  engaged  in  shoeing  a  mule  he 
was  compelled  to  give  up  the  business.  Being  deter- 
mined to  have  a  trade  from  which  he  would  be  able  to 
realize  a  support,  he  went  to  Harrisburg,  Va.,  and 
learned  the  barber's  trade.  In  1879  he  went  to  Johns- 
town, Pa.,  where  he  worked  a  few  years  as  a  journey- 
man, after  which  he  entered  business  for  himself,  and 
succeeded  in  building  up  a  first-class  trade. 

In  the  great  flood  of  1889  Mr.  Derrit  was  the  greatest 
loser  among  the  colored  citizens  of  Johnstown ;  all  of  his 
possessions  in  shop  and  dwelling  house  were  destroyed. 
Being  a  man  of  great  business  push  and  energy,  he  re- 
solved to  remain  in  the  city  and  continue  his  business. 
His  former  patrons  returned  to  him,  and  to-day  he  con- 
ducts a  first-class  business  in  one  of  the  most  fashionable 
streets  in  the  city.  He  was  converted  and  joined  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  during  the 
pastorate  of  Rev.  S.  T.  Whiten,  and  has  held  the  posi- 
tion of  trustee,  superintendent  of  Sabbath  school,  and 
preacher's  steward.  He  has  represented  his  church  at 
several  sessions  of  the  Annual  Conference,  and  was  also 
a  delegate  to  the  last  General  Conference. 

REV.    JOHN    HOOPER, 

Presiding  Elder   of  the    Washington   District   of  the  North 
Carolina  Conference. 

John  Hooper,  son  of  John  H.  and  Margaret  Hooper, 
was  born  in  ,Northwest  Township,  Brunswick  County, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       549 

N.  C,  June  10,  1837.  His  early  life  was  spent  upon  a 
farm.  He  loved  books,  and  secured  them  as  fast  as  he 
could,  and  embraced  what  little  opportunity  there  was 
for  free  colored  people  to  learn  at  that  time,  which 
was  private  instruction  by  night.  He  was  thus  enabled 
to  read  and  write  well  enough  to  teach  a  second  grade 
school  when  emancipation  opened  the  opportunity. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1866,  and  while  a  local 
preacher  he  built  two  churches.  He  was  received  into 
the  Annual  Conference  in  1867,  and  ordained  deacon  by 
Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C.  For  about 
thirteen  years  he  labored  not  far  from  his  old  home,  in 
Brunswick,  Bladen,  and  Columbus  Counties,  during  which 
time  he  built  eight  churches.  He  was  ordained  elder  in 
1873.  His  next  appointment  was  Rockingham,  where 
he  labored  successfully  for  two  years.  In  1882  he  was 
sent  to  Wilmington,  where  Rev.  G.  B.  Farmer,  one  of 
the  strongest  men  of  his  day,  had  started  the  first  brick 
church  erected  by  the  colored  people  in  Wilmington 
since  the  war.  Ever  since  Rev.  G.  W.  Price  attempted, 
in  1 87 1,  to  take  this  church  over  to  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church  there  had  been  in  it  an  element  of  disloyalty. 
Elder  Farmer,  in  order  to  get  along  quietly,  and  that  he 
might  not  be  hindered  in  his  effort  to  build  the  finest 
colored  church  in  Wilmington,  had  allowed  this  disloyal 
element  a  little  more  rope  than  was  good  for  the  church. 
The  bishop  was  anxious  to  send  a  man  there  who  would 
bring  the  church  into  harmony  with  the  best  interests  of 
the  connection.  Hooper  in  this,  as  also  in  completing 
that  splendid  church  according  to  the  original  plan,  was 
abundantly  successful. 


550  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

At  the  end  of  three  years  he  was  appointed  to  the 
Washington  Station,  which  he  served  one  year,  and  was 
made  presiding  elder;  this  was  in  1883.  He  has  contin- 
ued in  the  office  of  presiding  elder  from  that  time.  The 
new  bishop,  before  reaching  the  Conference  in  1892, 
heard  such  a  clamor  from  those  who  wanted  Hooper's 
place  that  he  expected  to  have  to  make  a  change ;  but 
the  call  for  Hooper  was  so  loud  that  he  thought  it  best  to 
nominate  him,  and  he  was  reelected  by  a  unanimous  vote. 

Elder  Hooper's  strength  is  his  high  moral  and  Chris- 
tian character,  his  good  judgment,  his  unassuming  dig- 
nity, his  love  of  souls,  and  his  loyalty  to  the  Church, 
his  Master's  bride.  He  is  loved  for  his  goodness  and 
his  good  works.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference in  1884,  1888,  and  1892. 

REV.    G.    B.    FARMER. 

G.  B.  Farmer  was  among  the  strongest  of  the  early 
preachers  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference.  He  was 
licensed  in  1865,  joined  the  Conference  the  same  year, 
and  was  ordained  a  deacon.  In  1866  he  was  ordained 
elder  and  was  given  a  district,  with  several  preachers  in 
his  charge,  in  Harnett  County,  where  he  labored  for 
several  years.  He  had  charge  successively  of  what 
were  in  those  days  the  three  most  important  stations, 
namely,  Fayetteville,  Wilmington,  and  New  Berne. 
The  last  named  has  been  the  death  of  more  distinguished 
ministers  than  any  other  station,  if  not  more  than  all  the 
others  together.  Noble  L.  Johns,  transferred  from  the 
New  York  Conference,  died  there  in  less  than  one  year. 
Thomas    Henderson    followed   him    a    few   years   later. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       55  I 

G.  B.  Farmer  was  trie  next  victim,  and  more  recently 
W.  H.  Furber.  Besides  these  Zion  ministers,  Rev.  G.  A. 
Rue,  of  Bethel  Church,  and  Rev.  Scott,  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  also  died  there.  Elder  Farmer  did  not 
die  there,  but  he  took  his  death  sickness  while  stationed 
there  and  was  brought  home  to  Fayetteville  to  die. 

He  was  a  useful  member  of  the  General  Conference  at 
Montgomery,  Ala.,  in  1880. 

REV.  J.   H.   MATTOCKS. 

J.  H.  Mattocks  joined  the  church  at  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
in  1868.  He  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1872,  and  in 
November  the  same  year  was  sent  to  the  Annual  Confer- 
ence at  Wilmington,  N.  C,  as  a  delegate,  and  was  also 
recommended  by  his  Quarterly  Conference  as  a  candi- 
date for  membership.  He  was  admitted  and  ordained  a 
deacon.  His  first  appointment  was  the  Onslow  Mission. 
He  succeeded  in  organizing  three  churches,  as  follows: 
Young's  Chapel,  on  New  River,  Burnett's  Chapel,  and 
Topsail  Sound  Mission.  His  salary  for  the  first  year  was 
$16.25  collected  from  the  people  and  $2.50  from  the 
Mission  Fund.  In  1874  he  was  sent  to  the  Redding 
Springs  Circuit,  composed  of  three  congregations  wor- 
shiping under  bush  arbors,  with  sixty  members  in  all. 
He  bought  lots  and  built  at  each  place,  and  also  organ- 
ized the  Jonesville,  Hudson  Grove, and  Pineville  Churches. 
At  the  close  of  three  years'  labor  he  left  the  circuit  with 
thirteen  hundred  members.  He  was  ordained  elder  in 
1877,  and  was  appointed  to  the  Mooresville  Circuit,  but 
was  soon  after  sent  to  the  Henderson  Circuit,  which  Rev. 

R.  D.  Russel  had  to  give  up  on  account  of  sickness  in  his 
37 


552 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


family.  This  was  a  strong  Baptist  section.  The  ministers 
who  had  preceded  Brother  Mattocks  had  thought  it  not 
best  to  attack  the  Baptist  doctrine,  and,  though  they  had 
succeeded  fairly  well,-  yet  when  they  had  large  revivals 
the  Baptists  would  get  more  than  half  their  converts. 
Brother  Mattocks  boldly  defended  the  Methodist  doctrine, 


REV.  J.   H.   MATTOCKS. 

and  the  result  was  that  he  held  nearly  all  of  his  converts 
and  baptized  them  by  sprinkling,  which  was  a  very  un- 
usual thing  in  that  section.  The  effect  of  his  teaching 
remains  till  this  day.  In  1878  and  1879  he  espoused  the 
temperance  cause  with  great  success,  and  was  elected 
chaplain  of  the  Good  Templars. 

In   1879    ne  was    appointed    to    Clinton  Chapel,    New 
Berne.     In  1871  he  was  appointed  to  Washington,  where 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       553 

his  usual  success  attended  him,  and  the  church  was 
greatly  improved  during  his  administration.  In  1882  he 
was  sent  to  Goldsboro.  The  church  there  at  that  time 
was  in  a  languishing  condition.  Rev.  Mattocks  remained 
three  years,  during  which  time  there  were  185  persons 
converted  and  217  added  to  the  church.  In  1885  Rev. 
Mattocks  was  made  presiding  elder,  and  labored  in  that 
capacity  for  three  years.  In  1888  he  was  relieved  of  the 
presiding  eldership  at  his  own  request  and  was  appointed 
pastor  of  the  church  at  Wilson.  In  1 891,  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference  and 
appointed  to  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  where  he  served  accept- 
ably for  one  year,  and  was  next  appointed  to  Monroe. 
In  1892  he  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Concord 
District.  He  is  a  successful  presiding  elder.  He  has 
common  sense  in  a  large  degree,  is  earnest  and  honest. 
He  has  filled  all  positions  in  his  Conference — secretary, 
statistical  secretary,  recording  secretary,  compiler  and 
publisher  of  the  Minutes,  and  Conference  steward.  He 
has  been  frequently  elected  as  fraternal  delegate  to  other 
Conferences,  and  has  been  a  delegate  to  every  General 
Conference  since  and  including  1880.  He  read  a  strong 
paper  on  the  subject  of  the  presiding  elder  system  at  the 
General  Conference  in  1880.  He  is  conservative,  and  can 
always  be  depended  upon  to  support  sensible  measures 
and  oppose  foolish  ones. 

REV.    ANDREW    J.    WARNER,    D.D. 

Andrew  J.  Warner  was  born  in  Washington,  Ky., 
March  4,  1850.  He  was  a  slave,  and  at  the  age  of 
thirteen  years  he  ran  away  from  his  owners,  and  crossing 


554  0NE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  Ohio  River  one  night  he  found  himself  in  Ripley,  O. , 
a  stranger,  and,  knowing  not  where  to  go,  he  went  to 
headquarters,  where  colored  soldiers  were  being  enlisted, 
and  enlisted  as  a  drummer  boy.  After  serving  in  the 
Union  army  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  being  hon- 
orably discharged  with  the  rank  of  sergeant,  he  returned 
to  his  old  Kentucky  home. 

Feeling  the  need  of  an  education,  and  there  being  no 
good  colored  schools  at  the  time  in  Kentucky,  he  went 
to  Ohio  and  attended  the  high  school  in  Cincinnati. 
From  there  he  went  to  Wilberforce  College,  in  Xenia, 
O.,  to  drink  deeper  from  the  intellectual  fountain.  He 
also  read  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  W.  H.  Wordsworth, 
of  Marysville,  Ky.,  and  is  somewhat  of  a  barrister.  'He 
was  converted  May,  1872,  and  joined  the  Church.  He 
was  licensed  to  preach  in  1874,  and  joined  the  Kentucky 
Conference  under  the  late  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.  He 
has  filled  ably  and  acceptably  many  of  the  leading  appoint- 
ments of  the  Western  and  Southern  Conferences.  He 
was  pastor  of  Big  Zion,  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  four  years, 
adding  over  seven  hundred  people  to  its  membership. 
He  captured  St.  John,  in  South  St.  Louis,  and  brought  it 
to  Zion ;  also  Zion  churches  were  founded  by  him  in 
Centralia,  111.,  and  in  Duquesne,  111.  Like  a  whirlwind 
he  swept  through  Illinois,  establishing  Zion  churches. 
He  crossed  the  line  and  entered  Arkansas  and'  planted 
the  standard  of  Zion  upon  the  shattered  ramparts  of  the 
enemy,  in  Little  Rock,  building  St.  Paul,  and  adding  to 
it  in  one  year  over  three  hundred  people.  From  there 
he  was  sent  to  Russellville,  Ky.,  and  again  to  St.  Louis. 
Later,  Bishop  Hood  transferred  him  to  Knoxville,  Tenn., 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       555 

to  save  the  Zion  church,  after  nearly  the  entire  member- 
ship had  left  and  established  an  independent  church. 
For  four  or  five  years  prior  Zion  in  that  city  had  been 
standing  on  a  smoking  volcano ;  he  was  sent  there 
after  the  eruption,  and,  possessed  with  personal  magnet- 
ism, guarded  shrewdness,  and  plenty  of  common  sense, 
coupled  with  unshaken  faith  in  Jehovah,  he  turned  the 
tide,  brought  peace  out  of  confusion,  and  succeeded 
grandly  in  bringing  the  straying  lambs  back  into  Zion's 
fold.  How  well  he  accomplished  the  work  may  be  seen 
by  looking  at  Logan  Temple,  which  he  built — the  finest 
colored  church  in  Tennessee.  The  same  great  pastoral 
success  has  attended  his  labors  in  the  West  Alabama 
Conference,  where  he  is  stationed  at  this  writing. 
So  quickly  by  his  attractive  singing  and  electrifying 
preaching  can  he  crowd  any  church,  and  keep  it  crowded 
while  he  is  pastor,  that  he  has  been  styled  the  ' '  Cyclone 
Preacher  "  of  Zion.  He  is  an  able  divine,  a  ready  talker, 
and  a  fine  debater.  His  fame  is  almost  national.  He 
was  the  leading  attorney  in  the  celebrated  Bishop  Hillery 
case  tried  in  Hendersonville,  Ky.,  and  his  defense  for 
the  unfortunate  bishop  was  ringing,  touching,  and  able. 
He  was  elected  and  served  as  commissioner  on  organic 
union  in  1884  and  in  1892.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
ever;y  General  Conference  since  and  including  1 884.  He  is 
quite  a  shrewd  politician.  His  great  popularity  as  a  public 
speaker  brought  to  him  unsought  the  nomination  for  Con- 
gress in  the  first  Alabama  district.  Without  any  effort 
on  his  part  he  carried  four  wards  in  the  great  city  of 
Mobile.  He  has  been  twice  chosen  presidential  elector, 
and  has  several  times  been  appointed  to  prominent  politi- 


556  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

cal  offices,  but  has  declined  them,  preferring  to  remain  in 
the  pulpit  and  work  for  God  and  Zion. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Smith. 

REV.    E.    H.    CURRY,    D.D. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Green  County, 
Ky.,  January  6,  1839.  He  was  reared  by  his  mother  till 
his  twelfth  year,  at  which  time  he  was  left  as  an  orphan 
to  battle  for  life  as  best  he  could,  his  mother  dead  and 
his  father  worse  than  dead  (a  slave). 

After  working  two  years  on  a  farm  he  bound  himself 
to  a  man  to  learn  the  blacksmith's  trade,  at  which  trade 
he  worked  until  he  was  twenty-eight  years  old ;  he  then 
joined  the  Kentucky  Conference  of  the  African  Metho- 
dist Episcopal  Zion  Church,  at  the  organization  of  said 
Conference. 

Before  his  admission  into  Conference  he  had  only  been 
licensed  to  exhort.  This  was  unusual,  but  Bishops  Tal- 
bot and  Clinton  were  very  practical  men,  and  they  did 
unusual  things  in  those  days,  and  God  blessed  the  work 
of  their  hands  because  they  labored  for  his  glory  regard- 
less of  small  technicalities. 

We  presume  that  Bishop  Talbot  held  that  the  act  of 
taking  him  into  Conference  made  him  a  preacher ;  there- 
fore he  ordained  him  a  deacon  at  once  and  sent  him  to  a 
pastoral  charge,  or  rather  a  mission.  He  was  sent  to 
Bardstown,  and  there  during  the  one  year  that  he  had 
charge  bought  the  ground  and  erected  a  church  edifice. 
One  year  later  he  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  W.  H. 
Bishop,  and  sent  to  Russellville,  Ky.  There  he  had 
to  stand  a  lawsuit,  and  his  life  was  threatened  if  he  failed 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       557 

to  leave  the  place.  But  he  stood  his  ground,  bought  a 
lot,  and  built  a  fine  brick  church.  From  there  he  was 
sent  to  a  mission  in  Louisville ;  remained  there  three 
years  and  bought  a  part  of  the  lot  upon  which  the  Jacob 
Street  Tabernacle  now  stands,  erecting  there  a  small 
frame  church.  He  was  next  sent  to  Fifteenth  Street 
Church,  where  he  found  a  membership  of  three  hundred ; 
remained  there  three  years,  and  left  it  with  six  hun- 
dred and  three  members.  He  was  then  sent  back  to 
Russellville,  and  found  a  debt  on  the  church  of  $1,000, 
which  he  reduced  to  $400  in  one  year.  He  was  sent  back 
to  Russellville  for  another  year,  but  soon  after  Conference 
Bishop  Jones  needed  a  strong  man  to  go  to  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,  to  save  Loguen's  Chapel,  which  John  J.  Mitchel 
was  trying  to  take  over  to  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  only  remained  there  four  months,  but  that 
was  long  enough  for  him  to  accomplish  the  work  he  was 
sent  to  do.  He  then  lost  his  health,  and  went  home,  as 
he  supposed,  to  die.  But  his  work  was  far  from  being 
done ;  hence  his  life  was  spared  and  his  health  restored. 
About  that  time,  however,  a  certain  brother  had  to  be 
removed,  and  he  begged  Brother  Curry  to  take  his  place 
and  let  him  go  to  Knoxville,  which  Curry  finally  agreed 
to  do  as  a  matter  of  accommodation. 

While  completing  this  year's  work  he  established  a 
church  at  Carrollton,  on  the  Ohio  River,  fifty  miles  from 
Louisville,  and  another  at  Eminence,  forty  miles  from 
Louisville.  He  was  sent  to  Henderson,  Ky.,  where  he 
finished  a  splendid  brick  church.  He  was  returned  to 
Louisville,  and  built  the  Jacob  Street  Tabernacle, 
which  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest  edifices  in  the  con- 


558  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

nection.  No  other  man  has  ever  had  the  influence  in 
that  church  that  Curry  had.  He  bought  the  lot,  he  built 
the  first  church,  he  built  the  second  church.  He  has 
been  returned  to  them  we  don't  know  how  often,  and  still 
stands  first  in  the  estimation  of  that  people.  He  seldom 
left  a  debt  on  a  church  contracted  by  himself ;  he  was 
once  moved  to  make  room  for  some  one  else,  who  permit- 
ted the  debt  to  increase,  and  he  had  to  be  sent  back  to  pay 
it.  He  repaired  the  church  in  St.  Louis.  Rev.  Curry 
has  not  only  been  a  successful  pastor  and  church  builder, 
but  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  successful  and  dignified 
presiding  elders  in  the  connection.  He  by  his  Christian 
bearing  and  dignity  of  character  lifted  the  presiding  elder- 
ship up  from  the  disrespect  into  which  it  had  fallen  (in 
the  hands  of  one  who  had  great  talents  but  never  used 
them  to  the  permanent  good  of  the  connection).  Rev. 
Curry  has  been  several  times  elected  as  delegate  to  the 
General  Conference,  in  which  he  has  always  been  a  use- 
ful member.  He  was  very  prominently  before  the  Gen- 
eral Conference  in  1876  as  a  candidate  for  the  bishopric, 
but  was  beaten  by  a  combination  formed  for  the  election 
of  W.  H.  Hillery,  who  ought  never  to  have  been  elected. 
Hillery  did  us  harm ;  Curry  would  have  done  us  good. 
The  faculty  and  trustees  of  Livingstone  College  conferred 
on  him  the  honorary  degree  of  D.D. 

Through  all  that  troubled  period  in  the  Kentucky 
Conference,  caused  by  the  defection  and  withdrawal 
of  Wo  H.  Miles  and  others,  Curry  was  the  tower  of 
strength. 

When  we  first  went  to  take  charge  of  that  Conference, 
in  1883,  we  were  told  that  the  two  men  in  it  who  stood 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       559 

head  and  shoulders  taller  than  others,  in  whom  every- 
body had  confidence,  were  Curry  and  Johnson.  Our 
three  years'  labor  there  convinced  us  that  the  picture 
had  not  been  overdrawn.  There  were  coming  young 
men  in  the  Conference  who  have  made  their  mark 
since  that  time.  But  the  luster  of  the  Christian  char- 
acter of  these  two  pioneers  in  the  Kentucky  Conference 
still  shines  in  all  the  splendor  of  mature  age.  Against 
them  the  tongue  of  slander  has  been  awed  into  silence 
and  dare  not  move. 

REV.  B.   M.   GUDGER. 

B.  M.  Gudger  was  born  in  western  North  Carolina, 
March  4,  1855;  was  licensed  to  exhort  by  Elder  T.  A. 
Hopkin  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and  at  twenty-one  was 
licensed  to  preach. 

His  first  Conference  appointment  was  at  Murphy,  N.  C. 
While  there  he  succeeded  in  buying  a  church  lot  at  Blas- 
ville,  Ga.,  and  erected  a  church  thereon.  After  remain- 
ing on  that  work  three  years  he  was  assigned  to  Webster 
Mission,  N.  C. ;  he  organized  some  churches  on  that 
work.  The  following  year  he  served  a  mission  in  the 
State  of  Tennessee  known  as  the  Retrow  Mission. 

During  that  year  there  were  seventy-six  members 
added  to  the  church ._  The  following  year  he  was  assigned 
to  Morristown,  and  during  that  year  rebuilt  the  church 
with  an  addition  of  sixty-two  members. 

The  ensuing  year  he  was  ordained  a  deacon  and  ap- 
pointed to  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  where  he  remained  for  three 
years,  and  on  his  second  appointment  there  was  ordained 
elder.     After  serving  there  as  elder  one  year  he  was 


560 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


appointed  to  Franklin,  N.  C,  as  a  supply  on  the  western 
part  of  the  Asheville  District  for  Presiding  Elder  Mont- 
gomery that  year.  Bishop  Hood  appointed  him  presid- 
ing elder  from  the  Conference  at  Maryville,  Tenn.,  on 
the  Bristol  District,  and  he  remained  there  four  years.  By 
the  assistance  of  Rev.  I.  D.  Banks  he  built  a  new  church 

at  Bristol,  and  brought 
the  congregation  out 
of  a  public  school- 
house  into  a  new 
building  of  their  own. 
At  Lebanon,  Va.,  he 
bought  a  church  lot ; 
at  Esterville,  Va.,  or- 
ganized a  new  church ; 
built  a  church  on 
Chuckey  River;  also 
an  encampment  at 
Sturd's  Hill,  in  Wash- 
ington County,  Tenn., 
while  he  was  in  the 
pastoral  work. 

He  secured  a  site 
for  a  school  in  Green- 
ville, Tenn.,  and  on  that  lot  had  a  two-story  building 
erected  for  Zion.  From  there  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Knoxville  District,  where  he  remained  four  years.  Dur- 
ing that  time  he  was  enabled  to  build  one  new  church  at 
Knoxville,  one  at  Smithwood,  one  at  Leader  Bluff,  one 
at  Rutledge,  one  at  Mooresburg,  Tenn.,  one  at  Jonesville, 
Va.,  and  organized  several  others. 


REV.   B.   M.    GUDGER. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       56 1 

At  the  end  of  four  years  he  was  assigned  to  the 
Chattanooga  Station.  This  church  was  thirteen  hun- 
dred dollars  in  debt.  The  building  was  leaking  so  badly 
that  it  could  hardly  be  used.  He  succeeded  in  paying 
off  a  part  of  the  debt,  and  gathered  the  members  together 
that  were  scattered  during  a  split  in  the  church. 

REV.    W.    H.    FERGUSON,    D.D. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Columbia,  S.  C, 
August  26,  1852.  He  was  born  a  slave  and  held  as  such 
until  the  close  of  the  late  rebellion.  In  1868  he  removed 
to  Asheville,  N.  C,  and  worked  on  the  farm  during  the 
spring  and  summer,  attending  the  common  school  through 
the  fall  and  winter.  He  professed  a  hope  in  Christ  in 
1 869  at  Waynesville,  N.  C,  and  joined  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church.  In  August,  1869,  he  was 
made  a  class  leader,  in  which  capacity  he  served  one  year. 

In  the  spring  of  1870  he  'felt  that  he  was  divinely 
called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Rev.  T.  A.  Hopkins, 
who  at  that  time  had  the  oversight  of  the  work  in  west- 
ern North  Carolina,  licensed  him  as  a  local  preacher.  He 
joined  the  Tennessee  Conference  under  Bishop  S.  D. 
Talbot,  D.D.,  October  4,  1870,  at  Cleveland,  Tenn.  He 
was  in  his  nineteenth  year.  His  earnest  zeal  for  the 
work  and  his  youth  fulness  claimed  for  him  at  once  the  sym- 
pathy and  favorable  consideration  of  the  bishop  and  Con- 
ference. Asheville  and  Turkey  Creek  Circuit  was  his  first 
appointment.  God  blessed  his  labors  during  the  year 
1 87 1,  and  many  souls  were  brought  to  Christ  and  added 
to  the  church.  When  the  Annual  Conference  convened 
at  Jonesboro,  Tenn.,  October  2,  1 871,  he  was  appointed 


562  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

by  Bishop  Talbot  to  Hendersonville,  N.  C.  It  was  then 
a  circuit  embracing-  four  points.  While  in  charge  of  this 
work  he  was  induced  by  Dr.  Williams,  of  the  white  Pres- 
byterian church,  to  begin  a  course  of  theology.  Having 
spent  the  greater  part  of  three  years  in  the  common 
schools,  his  thirst  for  a  higher  education  induced  Bishop 
S.  T.  Jones,  D.D.,  Rev.  J.  A.  Tyler,  D.D.,  and  others 
to  have  young  Ferguson  appointed  to  Maryville,  Tenn. 
This  is  an  educational  center  where  several  colleges  have 
been  in  operation  for  many  years.  The  Conference  met 
at  the  above  named  place  in  1872,  Bishop  Jones  pre- 
siding. He  was  here  ordained  deacon,  and  two  years 
after  was  ordained  an  elder  at  Greenville,  Tenn.,  by 
Bishop  Jones.  He  completed  his  normal  course  at  the 
Freedmen's  Normal  Institute  in  1874.  After  filling  a 
number  of  small  charges  he  was  appointed  to  Asheville 
Station,  in  1876.  During  his  pastorate  here,  which 
lasted  two  years,  he  won  the  reputation  of  being  one 
among  our  strongest  men.  He  was  the  founder  of  Jones's 
High  School,  at  Asheville,  N.  C,  1877.  For  lack  of 
financial  support  this  school  was  abandoned  after  two 
years'  existence. 

In  1879  he  was  appointed  by  Bishop  Jones  to  Chatta- 
nooga. It  may  be  truthfully  said  that  the  connection 
to-day  is  indebted  to  the  earnest  endeavor  of  Rev.  W.  H. 
Ferguson  for  what  we  have  in  that  city.  While  in  charge 
of  the  last  named  place  there  were  more  than  three  hun- 
dred members  added  to  the  church,  and  over  $1,500  im- 
provement made  on  the  property.  In  1884  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  pastorate  of  Logan's  Temple,  Knoxville, 
Tenn.,   where   he   held  his  own  one   year.     Knoxville 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION'CHURCH.       563 

charge  for  years  has  been  noted  for  the  instability  of  the 
membership.  Rev.  W.  H.  Ferguson  was  made  presid- 
ing elder  by  Bishop  Hood  in  1885  at  Abingdon,  Va., 
and  appointed  to  the  Asheville  District,  in  western 
North  Carolina.  After  serving  on  the  district  for  six 
months  at  the  request  of  Bishop  Jones  he  was  transferred 
from  the  Tennessee  Conference  to  the  New  York  Confer- 
ence. On  the  nth  of  March,  1885,  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  Williamsburg,  or  what  is  better  known  as  the 
Eastern  District  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Being  affable  and 
winning  in  his  bearing,  he  soon  gained  the  confidence  of 
both  white  and  colored  in  the  City  of  Churches.  This 
church  was  under  a  mortgage  of  $2,000  at  the  time  he 
took  charge  of  it.  The membership  was  very  small  and 
unable  to  meet  the  debt  when  due.  It  was  by  the  per- 
sistent efforts  of  the  pastor  that  a  second  loan  was  secured 
of  $3,000,  which  saved  the  membership  from  being  shut 
out  of  a  church  that  had  cost  them  $10,000. 

Financially  and  spiritually  the  church  seemed  to  prosper 
during  his  pastorate.  In  the  spring  of  1887  there  was  a 
strong  appeal  made  to  Bishop  Hood  to  have  him  appointed 
to  the  First  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  of 
Brooklyn.  Fleet  Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church  is  possibly  the  second  best  charge  belonging 
to  the  New  York  Conference. 

He  is  a  successful  pastor,  and  for  years  has  been  one 
of  the  leading  lights  in  our  great  connection.  We  have 
few  men  of  his  age  in  the  active  ministry  who  have  done 
more  to  build  up  the  waste  places  of  Zion  according  to 
their  means  than  he. 

In  1888  he  returned  from  New  York  to  Tennessee,  and 


564  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

was  made  presiding  elder  by  Bishop  Lomax,  D.D.,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  four  years  on  the  Chattanooga 
District.  In  1894  he  erected  Price  Temple  at  Cleve- 
land, Tenn.  It  is  the  handsomest  church  edifice  in  the 
Tennessee  Conference. 

REV.   C.  W.  WINFIELD,   S.T.B- 

C.  W.  Winfield  was  born  in  Dinwiddie  County,  Va., 
December  20,  1850.  He  was  taken  to  Petersburg  in 
i860,  and  to  Charlotte,  N.  C,  in  1864.  When  the  war 
closed  he  went  back  to  Petersburg.  He  was  converted  in 
1868,  and  joined  the  church  at  Jones  Chapel,  in  Prince 
George  County,  near  Petersburg,  under  the  administra- 
tion of  Henry  Freeland.  He  was  licensed  to  exhort  in 
1873,  by  Rev.  Watkins  Jones,  by  whom  he  was  also 
licensed  to  preach  in  1874.  In  1875  he  was  admitted  into 
the  Virginia  Annual  Conference,  at  its  session  in  Eliza- 
beth City,  N.  C.,as  a  preacher  on  trial,  and  was  appointed 
to  the  Chesterfield  Circuit,  which  included  Jones  Chapel, 
the  church  into  which  he  was  first  received  as  a  member. 
He  there  built  his  first  church,  and  succeeded  so  well  that 
he  remained  three  years.  These  three  years  were  the 
most  prosperous  that  the  church  has  ever  known.  Dur- 
ing the  three  years  that  he  held  this  charge  he  attended 
the  Episcopal  Theological  School  in  Petersburg.  He 
also  entered  a  private  school  and  took  there  a  course  in 
Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.  In  1876  he  was  ordained 
deacon  by  Bishop  Hood,  and  in  1878  he  was  ordained 
elder  by  the  same.  From  this  Conference  (1878)  he  was 
sent  to  Brunswick  County,  Va.,  to  the  Mount  Zion  Cir- 
cuit, where  he  greatly  improved  the  work.     The  General 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       565 

Fund  was  largely  increased  and  other  interests  advanced. 
In  1879  he  was  sent  to  Elizabeth  City,  N.  C,  where  he 
improved  the  church  edifice  by  building  a  beautiful  spire 
and  putting  in  a  bell. 

In  1 88 1  he  was  sent  to  Petersburg,  which  is  regarded 
as  the  most  important  charge  in  the  Conference.  Here 
he  finished  a  fine  brick  church,  which  had  been  com- 
menced by  Rev.  J.  McH.  Farley,  and  paid  a  large  portion 
of  the  indebtedness.  This  is  one  of  the  finest  churches 
in  the  Conference.  The  spire,  we  think,  is  decidedly  the 
prettiest  in  the  connection. 

Considering  the  fact  that  Petersburg  was  his  home,  and 
that  the  church  there  had  been  served  by  some  of  our 
ablest  men,  his  success  there  was  remarkable.  No  man 
is  more  respected  than  he.  At  the  end  of  his  four  years 
in  Petersburg  he  was  sent  to  Plymouth.  Here  he  only 
remained  one  year,  because  the  bishop  felt  that  he  was 
specially  needed  elsewhere.  In  his  one  year,  however, 
he  made  a  lasting  impression  for  himself  and  made  it 
easy  for  his  successor  to  accomplish  a  great  work.  He 
was  next  sent  to  Edenton,  where  he  greatly  improved 
the  church  by  putting  in  new  seats  and  a  fine  bell.  He 
also  paid  off  a  large  amount  of  indebtedness  which  had 
been  standing  for  five  or  six  years.  After  serving  this 
charge  for  two  years,  and  endearing  himself  to  his  people 
as  usual,  he  was  appointed  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Edenton 
District.  He  is  now  serving  his  sixth  year  on  this  dis- 
trict by  the  unanimous  request  of  both  pastors  and  people. 

We  know  of  no  presiding  elder  who  has  done  better 
work.  Before  his  district  was  made  smaller,  in  order  to 
make  a  third  district  in  the  Conference,  he  made  his  the 


566  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

banner  district  in  the  connection.  Notwithstanding  the 
decrease  in  the  size  of  the  district  he  raised  more  General 
Fund  in  this  year  (1893)  than  any  other  district  we  have 
heard  from.  Brother  Winfield  is  a  wonderful  word 
painter,  and  at  the  same  time  a  most  forcible  preacher. 

REV.    H.    B.    PETTIGREW. 

H.  B.  Pettigrew  was  born  in  Tyrrell  County,  N.  C, 
September  4,  1845.  He  made  his  escape  •  to  the  Union 
army  November  22,  1862.  He  entered  the  camp  at 
Plymouth,  N.  C,  and  cooked  for  the  soldiers  till  Febru- 
ary, 1863,  at  which  time  he  went  to  New  Berne  and 
enlisted  in  the  Thirty-fifth  United  States  Colored  In- 
fantry ;  got  his  left  hip  displaced  and  was  discharged  at 
James  City;  reenlisted  February  1,  1864,  at  the  same 
place.  He  was  in  General  Foster's  raid  to  Goldsboro, 
Washington,  and  Tarboro.  He  went  to  Virginia,  and 
was  promoted  to  first  sergeant  of  Company  B,  Second 
United  States  Colored  Cavalry.  His  first  battle  there 
was  at  Suffolk,  under  Colonel  G.  W.  Golds,  of  New  York. 
In  March,  1864,  he  was  in  the  battle  at  Deep  Bottom, 
when  a  move  was  made  on  the  Richmond  defenses ;  he 
was  in  the  battle  at  Chickahominy,  and  led  the  van  in  a 
charge  upon  the  Confederates  at  Malvern  Hill.  For  his 
splendid  behavior  in  that  engagement  he  was  awarded  a 
silver  medal  by  President  Lincoln,  which  he  now  has. 
He  was  in  thirteen  battles  and  fifteen  smaller  engage- 
ments, and  was  twice  wounded  in  battle.  His  last 
service  was  the  pursuit  of  the  Confederate  General  C. 
Smith,  in  Texas,  just  after  the  close  of  the  war.  He  was 
mustered  out  February  12,  1866,  at  City  Point,  Va. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       567 

In  1867  he  was  appointed  steward  of  the  United  States 
pesthouse  at  Norfolk.  In  1868  he  was  appointed  tool- 
keeper  in  Gosport  Navy  Yard.  In  the  latter  part  of  the 
same  year  he  came  to  Edenton,  N.  C,  where  he  professed 
faith  in  Christ  and  joined  the  African  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Zion  Church.  In  1869  he  received  local  preacher's 
license.  In  the  same  year  he  was  married  to  his  present 
devoted  wife,  having  lost  his  first  wife  during  the  war. 

In  1872  he  joined  the  Virginia  Conference.  He  was 
ordained  deacon  in  1873  and  had  charge  of  the  Chowan 
Circuit.  In  1874  he  was  ordained  elder  and  appointed 
to  the  Brunswick  County  Circuit,  where  he  built  St.  Paul's 
Church,  Solomon's  Temple,  Paradise  Church,  and  Jeru- 
salem. In  1876  he  was  appointed  yardkeeper  at  Rich- 
mond, Va.  In  1879  he  was  appointed  assistant  lighthouse 
keeper  at  Cape  Henry,  and  in  1880  was  appointed  light- 
house keeper  at  Brang  Island  Lighthouse. 

In  the  fall  of  1882  he  returned  to  the  itinerancy  and  was 
appointed  by  Bishop  Moore  to  the  Long  Ridge  Circuit. 
He  had  splendid  success  in  this  work,  but  in  the  Hillery 
trouble  in  1883,  he  having  followed  the  lead  of  those 
who  championed  Hillery's  cause,  felt  it  his  duty  to  stand 
by  him  until  the  General  Conference  had  determined  the 
case.  This  having  been  done,  he  was  ready  to  resume 
his  duties  as  soon  as  permitted.  His  next  appointment 
was  Zion  Circuit.  The  Zion  church  was  destroyed  by  fire, 
but  he  rebuilt  it.  He  built  a  church  at  Milfield,  called 
Mount  Carmel,  and  also  erected  the  Mount  Moriah  Church. 

In   1890  he  was   sent  to  the    Jonesville  Circuit.      He 

built  and  completed  the  Hood's  Temple    at  Jonesville, 

which  is  the  finest  church  in  that  section ;   he  finished 
38 


568  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

the  church  at  Hamilton,  and  secured  lumber  and  com- 
menced the  church  at  Williamston ;  he  also  secured  the 
lumber  for  the  church  at  Bethlehem.  He  is  now  serving 
his  third  year  on  the  Hartford  Circuit.  He  has  built  a 
parsonage  at  Hartford,  built  a  splendid  church  at  Poplar 
Run,  finished  the  church  at  Oak  Hill,  and  commenced 
one  at  Fork  Bridge.  He  has  come  to  be  known  as  the 
great  church  builder;  he  is  a  splendid  carpenter,  and 
does  the  work  himself,  and  it  is  astonishing  how  much 
he  can  do.  The  congregation  that  gets  Pettigrew  is 
sure  of  a  church  if  it  has  none,  and  if  it  has  a  poor  one, 
it  is  sure  of  a  better  one.  He  is  not  only  a  material 
builder,  but  he  builds  up  his  church  spiritually  at  the 
same  time,  maintains  discipline,  and  sees  that  his  church 
does  its  part  in  supporting  the  connectional  institutions. 
He  is  exceedingly  anxious  to  give  his  children  a  good 
education,  and  has  a  daughter  in  the  classics  at  Living- 
stone. He  is  distinguished  for  bold  fearlessness.  It  is 
doubtful  if  ever  a  braver  soldier  went  into  battle;  he 
felt  that  he  was  fighting  for  a  cause  in  the  interest  of 
which  it  would  be  honorable  to  die.  He  will  go  through 
with  what  he  undertakes  or  perish  in  the  attempt  if  he 
believes  that  duty  requires  it  of  him.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conference  in  1876  and  also  in  1892. 

REV.    J.    P.    THOMPSON. 

J.  P.  Thompson  was  converted  March  18,  1868,  in  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  Fair  Haven, 
N.  J., under  the  pastorate  of  Rev.  J.  S.Marshall.  He  joined 
the  church  the  same  night  of  his  conversion,  and  three 
months  from  that  night  he  was  made  assistant  class  leader. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       569 

Three  months  later  he  was  given  a  trial  sermon  by  Rev. 
Henry  H.  Dumson.  One  year  later  he  joined  the  Annual 
Conference  at  Jersey  City,  Bishop  J.J.  Clinton  presiding ; 
he  was  presented  for  admission  by  Rev.  Charles  Robinson, 
and  was  admitted  with  eight  others.  He  had  a  conversa- 
tion with  Bishop  Clinton  about  Church  work  and  the 
ministerial  work  and  life.  "Well,"  said  he,  "boy,  the 
first  thing  is  to  know  that  you  are  converted  ;  the  second 
is  to  know  your  calling  and  live  a  Christian  life.  Study 
night  and  day,  and  the  right  kind  of  books.  Exercise 
a  humble  spirit,  and  success  will  attend  you."  He 
also  said,  "You  must  do  something  for  God  and  Zion. 
You  must  organize  and  bring  in  new  societies,  and  also 
build  churches,  that  Zion  may  spread  her  borders.  Look 
after  the  general  interest  of  the  connection."  His  first 
station  was  at  Harlem,  N.  Y. ;  he  remained  there  one 
year  and  was  quite  successful,  having  a  great  revival  and 
adding  twenty  to  the  church.  He  was  then  transferred 
to  the  New  Jersey  Conference  and  stationed  at  Paterson. 
There  he  found  the  church  in  a  despairing  condition,  both 
temporally  and  spiritually,  with  twenty-four  members. 
The  second  year  he  added  twenty-five  feet  to  the  church, 
raised  the  ceiling,  and  handsomely  seated  it.  God  poured 
out  his  Spirit,  and  a  great  revival  followed,  about  thirty- 
six  being  converted.  He  left  a  debt  of  $150  to  go  to 
Camden,  N.  J.,  where  he  found  the  church  in  a  very 
precarious  condition.  The  people  supposed  that  they 
owned  the  ground,  but  he  discovered  that  they  possessed 
no  title.  In  order  to  secure  them  a  title  he  was  in  the 
Court  of  Chancery  two  years.  The  court  decided  in 
favor  of  the  church.     He  then  repaired  it.     In  his  third 


570  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

year  he  had  a  great  revival,  and  ninety-three  were  con- 
verted. He  also  built  them  a  handsome  new  brick 
church  and  left  a  debt  of  $2,000.  While  building 
this  church  he  went  to  Atlantic  City,  N.  J.,  and 
organized  a  society ;  three  weeks  after  the  organization 
he  purchased  a  handsome  church  in  Ohio  Avenue,  and 
put  them  in  it  and  organized  a  fine  Sunday  school.  This 
is  now  one  of  the  finest  churches  in  the  Conference. 

Red  Bank,  N.  J.,  was  his  next  appointment,  which 
was  his  spiritual  home,  where  he  was  converted,  licensed, 
recommended  to  the  Annual  Conference,  and  ordained 
elder  by  Bishop  Clinton.  He  found  the  church  prop- 
erty $600  more  in  debt  than  it  was  when  dedicated. 
He  paid  $1,700,  leaving  only  $600.  He  then  built  a  fine 
parsonage.  That  year  ninety-six  were  converted  and 
added  to  the  church. 

The  Newark  church,  after  a  struggle  of  twelve  years, 
was  about  to  be  stricken  off  the  Conference  roll.  He 
asked  Bishop  Moore  to  place  it  under  his  supervision. 
He  reorganized  the  church,  consisting  of  five  members 
(Brother  Benjamin  Richardson  and  family),  built  them 
a  little  chapel  24  by  40  feet,  and  presented  it  to  the 
Conference  with  a  membership  of  twenty-four.  The 
second  year  of  his  pastorate  at  Red  Bank  he  went  to 
Reveytown  and  organized  a  society  of  twenty-five 
members,  built  them  a  frame  church,  and  presented  it  to 
the  Conference  free  of  debt.  During  the  third  year  at 
Red  Bank  he  went  to  Asbury  Park,  N.  J.,  and  bought  a 
lot  for  $600  for  the  Mission  Board.  He  asked  the  board 
to  send  him  $25,  which  they  did,  and  he  secured  the  lot. 
He  then  commenced  to  build.     He  went  to  all  the  lum- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       571 

ber  yards  and  begged  lumber  for  the  church,  assisted  by 
Rev.  J.  H.  White.  They  succeeded  in  building  the 
church  for  the  Mission  Board.  He  was  then  transferred 
to  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conference,  and  ap- 
pointed to  Philadelphia  by  Bishop  Hood,  who  informed 
him  that  he  desired  him  to  get  the  church  away  from  the 
location  on  Lombard  Street,  near  Sixth,  as  he  was  satis- 
fied it  could  not  be  built  up  at  that  place.  The  second 
year  he  sold  the  old  church  and  bought  the  splendid 
edifice  at  the  corner  of  Fifteenth  and  Lombard  Streets, 
the  church  which  Bishop  Hood  selected  as  the  one  he 
would  like  them  to  buy.  It  had  not  been  offered  for  sale 
at  the  time  he  told  them  of  it,  but  Providence  favored 
them.  This  became  the  leading  colored  church.  In  the 
old  church,  when  Thompson  took  charge,  the  morning- 
congregation  numbered  about  forty  persons,  evening 
about  sixty,  Sabbath  school  one  hundred  and  fifty.  In 
the  new  church  on  his  fourth  year  he  had  a  congregation 
of  one  thousand  and  a  Sabbath  school  numbering  more 
than  five  hundred. 

Under  Elder  Thompson's  direction  the  sacred  dead, 
including  the  body  of  Bishop  J.J.  Clinton,  were  removed 
from  the  old  church  ground  to  the  cemetery  at  West 
Philadelphia.  He  was  sent  to  John  Wesley's  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C.  At  his  first  rally  he  raised  $400, 
which  paid  all  the  interest  due  on  the  church.  Finding 
the  church  unable  to  meet  its  liabilities,  he  built  six 
houses,  including  a  parsonage,  on  the  lot,  which  would 
bring  a  revenue  sufficient  to  meet  all  expenses  and 
eventually  pay  off  the  main  debt.  At  this  juncture  he 
found  the  property  was  deeded  to  individuals  and  not  to  the 


572  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

members  of  the  church.  By  a  great  effort  he  succeeded 
in  having  the  deed  made  according  to  the  Discipline. 
They  then  had  a  glorious  revival ;  sixty  souls  were  con- 
verted, and  the  church  and  Sabbath  school  were  built  up. 
He  was  then  sent  to  York,  remained  three  months,  and 
was  then  transferred  to  the  Missouri  Conference  and 
stationed  at  Washington  Chapel,  St.  Louis.  He  found 
it  an  inferior  structure  and  somewhat  in  debt.  He 
first  paid  off  all  indebtedness,  and  then  made  prepara- 
tions to  build,  but  found  that  the  property  was  not  se- 
cure. It  was  deeded  to  individuals  outside  of  the  church, 
who  refused  to  give  them  a  deed.  It  cost  $700  to  get  a 
deed.  They  then  erected  a  new  church,  stone  front, 
with  polished  granite  pillars  50  by  126  feet,  a  fine  tower 
156  feet  high,  in  which  there  is  a  grand  bell.  The 
church  is  handsomely  finished  and  valued  at  $30,000,  on 
which  there  is  now  an  indebtedness  of  about  $15,000. 
The  congregation  is  steadily  increasing. 

REV.    D.    I.    WALKER. 

D.  I.  Walker  was  born  in  Chester  County,  S.  C,  in 
July,  1838.  He  was  married  to  Matilda  McDonald  June 
1,  1 86 1.  He  embraced  religion  and  joined  the  church 
in  early  life,  and  was  class  leader  and  exhorter  before 
the  war ;  his  father  died  when  he  was  very  young,  leav- 
ing the  mother  a  widow  with  twelve  children.  The 
system  of  slavery  which  surrounded  them  was,  however, 
the  greatest  hindrance  to  young  Walker's  progress. 

The  period  at  which  the  war  closed  found  him  with  a 
wife  and  two  children  and  not  more  than  ten  dollars.  For 
two  years  he  worked  on  a  farm   for  part  of  the  crop, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       573 

during  which  time  he  obtained  such  instruction  from 
Northern  teachers  as  his  time  permitted.  In  1866  Rev. 
Bird  Hampton  Taylor,  from  Charlotte,  N.  C,  went  to 
Chester,  S.  C,  organized  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church,  held  a  Quarterly  Conference,  and  gave 
Walker  local  preacher's  license.  On  the  24th  of  March, 
1867,  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton  organized  the  South  Carolina 
Conference,  of  which  Walker  was  one  of  the  original 
members.  He  was  ordained  deacon  and  elder  at  that  Con- 
ference, and  was  given  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  church  at 
Chester  and  the  charge  of  the  county  as  presiding  elder 
and  missionary.  He  continued  to  hold  the  pastoral  charge 
and  presiding  eldership  together  for  seven  years.  About 
1872  he  was  relieved  of  the  pastoral  charge,  but  was  con- 
tinued as  Presiding  Elder  of  the  Chester  District  till  about 
1882,  at  which  time  all  the  presiding  elders  were  changed 
and  started  on  a  rotating  system.  Walker  was  continued 
in  office  as  presiding  elder  through  the  administration  of 
nine  bishops,  with  the  exception  of  two  years.  His 
being  out  at  all  was  on  account  of  the  fact  that  Bishop 
Jones,  who  nominated  him,  was  too  sick  to  be  in  Confer- 
ence during  the  election,  and  ambitious  men  who  wanted 
his  place  managed  to  defeat  him.  When  I.  C.  Clinton  was 
made  bishop  he  appointed  Walker  to  succeed  himself  as 
presiding  elder,  and  at  the  Conference  in  1892  he  was 
reelected.  He  is  specially  adapted  to  this  work.  During 
the  period  that  he  had  charge  of  the  Chester  District  he 
planted  a  church  in  every  part  of  that  county,  and 
many  of  the  churches  are  the  finest  we  have  in  that 
State.  While  he  had  charge  in  Chester  County  he  was 
elected  school  commissioner  and  established  many  schools 


574  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  that  county ;  he  was  also  elected  to  the  State  Senate. 
His  people  had  the  fullest  confidence  in  him.  After  he 
was  elected  to  the  Senate  a  strange  white  man  came  to 
his  house  and  wanted  to  stay  all  night.  Bishop  Hood 
was  present  at  the  time,  and  was  so  fully  impressed  that 
the  man  was  bent  on  mischief  that  he  took  the  liberty  to 
say  to  the  man  that  he  could  not  stay,  and  insisted  upon 
his  going.  He  knew  Walker's  good  nature  so  well  that 
he  thought  it  best  to  assume  the  charge  for  the  time 
being.  Walker  has  ever  since  believed  that  the  Lord 
sent  the  bishop  that  night  and  that  his  life  was  thus 
saved.  When  Hampton  was  elected  governor  the  Demo- 
crats determined  to  get  control  of  the  Senate  at  all 
hazards. 

As  nothing  criminal  could  be  proven  against  Walker 
he  was  informed  that  he  could  save  his  life  by  resigning 
his  seat  in  the  senate,  but  that  at  all  events  they  intended 
to  have  it.  This  information  came  from  a  source  which 
left  no  doubt  of  the  intention.  He  did  not  feel  that  he 
was  obliged  to  be  a  martyr  for  the  sake  of  office.  If  it  had 
been  a  question  as  to  whether  he  should  cease  preaching 
or  sacrifice  his  life  it  would  have  been  a  different  thing. 
So  long  as  he  could  serve  his  people  by  holding  office  he 
was  willing  to  do  so.  He  was,  however,  not  anxious  for 
the  office  even  when  the  Republicans  were  in  power.  He 
therefore  resigned,  and  has  since  that  time  given  his 
whole  time  to  the  ministry.  He  has  raised  and  educated 
a  family  of  promising  children.  He  might  have  been 
pretty  well  off  in  the  world,  but  by  liberal  gifts  to  the 
Church  and  by  standing  people's  security  he  has  deprived 
himself  of  much.     Few  men  have  done  more  to  build  up 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       575 

the  Church  than  he.  We  have  never  seen  a  more  happy  dis- 
position than  his— have  never  seen  him  in  a  bad  humor. 
His  wife  has  been  a  helpmate  indeed.  In  all  our  travels 
we  have  never  seen  a  more  sensible  or  better  disposed 
woman  than  Mrs.  Walker. 

REV.    THOMAS    PAGE    R.    MOORE, 

Presiding  Elder  of  Lancaster  (S.  C.)  District,  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Church. 

Among  the  many  young  men  who  are  pushing  their 
way  to  the  front  rank  in  the  Christian  ministry  none 
stands  deservedly  higher  than  Rev.  T.  P.  R.  Moore,  one 
of  the  newly  made  presiding  elders  in  the  South  Caro- 
lina Conference.  He  was  born  in  New  Berne,  N.  C, 
the  12th  day  of  May,  1853.  He  obtained  a  fair  education 
in  the  schools  of  his  native  town,  New  Berne,  Charlotte, 
and  Lincolnton,  N.  C.  After  having  completed  the 
course  of  the  above  named  schools  he  began  his  work  as 
a  teacher  in  the  public  schools.  His  first  work  in  this 
line  began  in  Bladen  County,  N.  C.  He  taught  in  the 
following  other  counties :  Lenoir,  Jones,  Chatham,  and 
Rowan,  and  did  much  toward  enlightening  both  parents 
and  children. 

It  was  during  a  great  revival  conducted  by  Bishop 
(then  Elder)  J.  W.  Hood,  while  he  was  pastor  of  St.  An- 
drew's (now  St.  Peter's)  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  that  our  subject  was  happily  converted  at  the 
age  of  eleven  years. 

Having  felt  a  divine  call  to  the  work  of  the  Christian 
ministry,  he  was  granted  license  to  preach  at  Kinston, 
N.  C,  in  1875,  and  was  admitted  to  the  traveling  con- 


576  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

nection  in  the  North  Carolina  Conference  which  convened 
in  Lincolnton  in  1879.  His  first  appointment  was  Pine 
Ridge  Circuit,  Rutherford  County,  N.  C.  Having  done 
acceptable  service  here,  and  having  shown  by  his  pious 
example,  earnest  labors,  and  intelligent  management  that 
he  was  a  most  promising  young  man,  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood 
transferred  him  to  the  South  Carolina  Conference  to  take 
charge  of  St.  John's  Church,  Spartanburg,  S.  C,  that 
Zion's  scattered  and  much-abused  forces  might  be  re- 
gained, united,  and  built  up  again.  He  began  his  career 
in  South  Carolina  in  1 88 1 ,  and  under  the  most  adverse  cir- 
cumstances succeeded  in  greatly  strengthening  the  work 
in  Spartanburg.  Be  it  remembered  that  at  one  time  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  was  second  to 
no  church  of  color  in  the  city  of  Spartanburg.  But, 
through  the  mismanagement  and  inconsistent  conduct  of 
some  of  the  men  stationed  there,  the  work  was  "scat- 
tered, torn,  and  pealed."  Under  Elder  Moore  a  new  site 
was  procured,  the  work  of  building  began,  and  Zion  once 
more  got  a  foothold  which  seems  destined  to  place  her 
where  she  once  stood  in  this  progressive  city. 

In  1883  he  was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  T.  H.  Lomax, 
and  appointed  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  St.  John's  Church, 
Fairfield  County,  and  the  Columbia  Mission,  at  the  State 
capital.  He  was  very  successful  here,  and  so  endeared 
himself  to  the  people  that  they  protested  earnestly  against 
his  removal  at  the  expiration  of  one  year  to  fill  St.  Au- 
gustine Chapel,  Union  Court  House,  S.  C.  In  this  charge 
he  remained  two  years,  making  a  record  that  will  ever 
shine  where  virtue  is  approved  and  religion  is  honored. 
He  not  only  preached,  but  taught  the  children  of  his  own 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       577 

members  and  many  others.  From  this  charge  he  was 
sent  to  Cedar  Grove  Circuit,  Newberry  County,  which  is 
one  of  the  best  charges  in  the  South  Carolina  Conference. 
Under  Elder  Moore's  administration  the  circuit  prospered 
much  and  greatly  increased.  After  serving  this  charge 
three  years  he  was  appointed  to  Clinton  Chapel,  York- 
ville,  S.  C,  where  he  remained  one  year,  having  been 
chosen  by  the  bishop  and  elected  by  the  Conference  as 
Presiding  Elder  of  the  Lancaster  District.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  he  only  remained  as  pastor  of 
Clinton  Chapel  one  year,  he  made  a  report  which  placed 
his  charge  at  the  head  of  the  list  on  General  Fund  and 
second  to  none  in  other  departments  of  Church  work. 

During  his  entire  ministry  he  has  shown  himself  to  be 
a  man  of  sterling  character,  studious  habits,  active  and 
energetic,  and  has  met  with  success  wherever  he  has 
gone.  As  a  preacher  he  never  fails  to  enlighten  and 
edify.  He  is  naturally  of  a  delicate  constitution,  but  his 
voice  is  smooth,  clear,  and  penetrating,  and  once  warmed 
up  assumes  a  dignified  eloquence  that  forces  the  truth 
with  effective  power  and  convincing  influence.  He  is 
one  of  the  best  penmen  in  the  connection.  For  years  he 
has  been  secretary  or  compiler  of  the  minutes  of  his  Con- 
ference. He  has  represented  the  South  Carolina  Confer- 
ence in  three  General  Conferences,  namely,  in  New  York 
in  1884,  in  New  Berne,  N.  C,  in  1888,  and  Pittsburg 
in  1 892 . — Extract  from  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Ziou 
Quarterly. 

REV.    C.    A.    KING. 

C.  A.  King  was  born  July  18,  1828,  on  Robert  Smith's 
plantation,  nine  miles  west  of  Yorkville,  S.  C.     He  joined 


578  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  Methodist  Church  on  good  desires  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two.  He  was  converted  the  same  year,  and 
hence  is  a  standing  evidence,  with  a  great  multitude  of 
others,  of  the  advantage  of  joining  the  Church  on  good 
desires.  The  Methodist  Church  started  in  that  way,  and 
the  more  people  are  urged  to  join  the  Church  without 
waiting  to  be  converted  the  greater  will  be  our  success. 
The  Church  organization  is  a  means  of  grace,  formed  for 
the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  no  one  can  honestly  accept 
its  privileges  without  enjoying  its  benefits. 

Brother  King  realized  his  call  to  the  ministry  soon 
after  his  conversion,  and  applied  for  license  to  exhort. 
The  General  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  of  which  Church  he  was  then  a  member, 
had  passed  a  law  that  colored  men  should  not  receive 
license ;  nevertheless  he  received  a  permit  to  hold  meet- 
ings, and  on  that  he  exhorted  and  preached  until  the  close 
of  the  war.  He  joined  the  South  Carolina  Conference  of 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  at  its  session 
in  Lancaster  in  1867,  and  was  ordained  a  deacon  by  Bishop 
J.  J.  Clinton.  During  his  first  year  he  organized  one 
church  and  erected  a  place  of  worship.  At  the  Confer- 
ence which  met  in  Winnsboro,  in  1868,  he  was  ordained 
elder  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Moore.  He  has  organized  in  all 
seventeen  churches,  and  erected  a  house  of  worship  for 
each.  Possibly  some  of  the  houses  he  erected  in  the 
early  part  of  his  ministry  have  been  superseded  by  more 
commodious  ones,  but  they  served  their  purpose  for  their 
time.     The  following  is  the  record : 

1.  He  organized  in  1867  the  Unity  Church,  southwest 
of  Yorkville,  in  York  County.     2.  The  Ebenezer  Church, 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       579 

west  of  Yorkville,  in  York  County,  he  organized  in  1868. 

3.  Wilson  Chapel,  in  York  County,  he  organized  in  1869. 

4.  Mount  Zion,  York  County,  he  organized  also  in  1869. 

5.  China  Grove,  in  York  County,  he  organized  in  1870. 

6.  Liberty,    in    York    County,    he    organized    in     1870. 

7.  Providence,  between  York  and  Chester,  was  organized 
in  1 87 1.  8.  Philadelphia,  in  York  County,  was  organized 
in  1 87 1.  9.  Foundation,  in  York  County,  was  organized 
in  1 87 1.  10.  Sharon,  in  York  County,  was  organized  in 
1872.  11.  St.  Paul's,  in  Fairfield  County,  was  organized 
in  1876.  12.  Mount  Pleasant,  in  Chester  County,  was 
organized  in  1877.  13.  Burnt  Factory,  in  Union  County, 
was  organized  in  1878.  14.  Rich  Hill,  Spartanburg 
County,  was  organized  in  1879.  *5-  Eureka,  in  Ches- 
terfield County,  was  organized  in  1884.  16.  Poplar 
Springs,  Kershaw  County,  was  organized  in  1885. 
17.   Kershawville  Church  was  organized  in  1887. 

In  many  cases  Brother  King  cut  logs  for  these  build- 
ings and  helped  with  his  own  hands  to  erect  them.  Elder 
King  is  one  of  the  four  great  pioneers  in  the  upbuilding 
of  the  South  Carolina  Conference.  In  1872  the  Confer- 
ence was  divided  into  four  presiding  elders'  districts  (it 
was  the  first  Conference  in  the  connection  in  which  the 
regular  presiding  elder  system  was  established).  I.  C. 
Clinton,  D.  Y.  Walker,  C.  A.  King,  and  A.  M.  Moore 
were  the  presiding  elders.  Elder  Moore  had  as  much 
energy  as  his  colleagues,  but  had  some  mishaps  which 
to  some  degree  retarded  his  work.  Nevertheless,  all  told, 
they  did  a  wonderful  work.  During  ten  years,  beginning 
with  the  rise  of  the  Conference  in  December,  1872,  they 
built  eighty  churches  and  paid  for  them. 


580  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Elder  King,  our  present  subject,  did  his  full  share  of 
this  work.  Nearly  all  the  churches  in  York  County  were 
organized  by  him.  It  will  be  seen  that  for  four  years, 
from  1872  to  1876,  he  built  no  church.  This  is  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  the  duties  of  his  office  as  presiding 
elder  kept  him  busy ;  and  also  the  fact  that  his  district 
was  confined  to  York  County,  which  had  been  very  well 
worked  up.  Besides  this,  for  a  portion  of  the  period  he 
was  county  Superintendent  of  Education,  and  had  charge 
of  all  the  schools,  both  white  and  black.  Elder  King  is 
a  man  of  extraordinary  natural  ability.  His  style  of 
preaching  is  original  and  peculiar,  but  wonderfully  effect- 
ive. Though  he  was  for  several  years  the  leading  poli- 
tician in  York  County,  and  could  get  a  majority  of  votes 
for  any  office  in  the  county,  yet  he  had,  and  still  has,  the 
confidence  of  both  races.  He  is  regarded  as  a  man  of 
rigid  honesty  and  of  unquestioned  piety. 

REV.   JAMES  H.  JACKSON. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  among  the  greatest  build- 
ers in  the  connection.  In  fact,  we  know  of  no  man  who 
has  been  a  greater  success  in  his  ministry.  He  is  an 
evidence  of  what  a  good,  honest,  earnest,  pure  Christian 
man  can  accomplish  even  without  an  education,  in  the 
ordinary  sense  of  that  term. 

He  is  respected  by  all  who  know  him.  He  entered 
the  ministry  about  1870.  His  first  charge  was  Gladens 
Grove  Circuit,  which  included  nearly  all  the  work  we 
then  had  in  Fairfield  County,  S.  C.  He  exhibited  his 
build-up  qualities  in  this  first  charge  by  buying  the 
ground    and    building   the    arbor    at    Camp  Willfair,   at 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       58 1 

which  place,  for  many  years  following,  great  camp  meet- 
ings were  held.  His  next  appointment  was  St.  John's 
and  Sweet  Prospect.  He  bought  grounds  and  built 
churches  at  both  of  these  points. 

In  1877  he  went  to  the  Ebenezer  Circuit,  in  York 
County.  Here  he  bought  the  ground  and  built  Eben- 
ezer Church. 

The  next  appointment  (1879)  was  Cedar  Grove  Circuit, 
on  which  he  remained  four  years.  During  this  time  he 
built  churches  at  New  Hope,  Canaan,  and  Springhill, 
and  also  a  large  arbor  at  the  Cedar  Grove  camp  ground. 

In  1883  he  was  sent  to  Rock  Hill  Circuit,  and  during 
that  year  he  finished  the  church  at  Rock  Hill  which  had 
been  commenced  by  his  brother,  J.  A.  Jackson.  (We  may 
here  remark  that  this  brother,  Joshua  A.  Jackson,  has  also 
been  a  very  successful  minister  and  church  builder.) 
The  next  year  James  H.  Jackson  finished  the  church  at 
China  Grove  and  built  the  parsonage  at  Rock  Hill.  He 
remained  on  this  circuit  four  years. 

In  1887  he  was  sent  to  the  Fort  Lawn  Circuit,  where 
he  remained  three  years.  He  bought  a  lot  and  built  a 
church  at  Fort  Lawn.  He  also  bought  a  lot  and  built 
the  Mount  Vernon  Church. 

In  1890  he  was  sent  to  Richburg.  There  he  bought 
a  lot  and  built  a  church ;  he  also  ceiled  and  seated  the 
church  at  Ararat,  built  a  parsonage,  and  dug  a  well. 
He  is  now  at  work  at  Blacksburg  and  Gaffney  City,  con- 
tinuing to  build  up  Zion.  He  was  delegated  to  General 
Conferences  as  follows :  Montgomery,  Ala.,  1880;  New 
York,  1884;  New  Berne,  N.  C,  1888;  and  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
1892. 


582 


ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       583 
REV.    JOHN    CARROLL   SAUNDERS. 

John  Carroll  Saunders  was  born  of  slave  parents  in 
Columbus,  Miss.,  August  15,  1853.  His  parents  were 
separated  a  few  years  before  freedom,  John  and  his 
mother  being  sold  to  Dr.  Pierson,  of  Livingston,  Ala. 
After  the  war  he  received  some  instruction  at  a  night 
school  in  Livingston,  Ala.  In  1871  he  had  earned 
enough  money  to  attend  school  at  Columbus,  Miss., 
where  he  remained  until  July,  1872.  In  August,  1872,  he 
left  his  home  at  Livingston  for  Selma,  Ala.,  entered 
Burrel  Academy,  and  remained  there  two  sessions.  By 
this  time  he  was  financially  embarrassed  and  compelled 
to  leave  school.  He  worked  at  the  depot  in  Selma  until 
1874,  when  he  was  appointed  route  agent  on  the  A.  G. 
S.  R.  R.  About  this  time  the  Democrats  came  into  con- 
trol of  the  State,  and  several  route  agents  were  killed ; 
Carroll's  life  was  threatened  several  times,  and  through 
the  persuasion  of  his  mother  and  friends  he  resigned, 
and  began  teaching  school  at  Livingston  in  his  own 
house.  He  was  converted  in  1874,  and  licensed  to 
preach  by  Rev.  H.  P.  Shuford.  He  began  teaching  at 
Zion's  Hill,  and  here  built  his  first  church  for  Zion. 

He  joined  the  West  Alabama  Annual  Conference, 
December,  1882,  was  appointed  to  College  Hill  Circuit 
by  Bishop  Lomax,  and  held  the  charge  three  years. 
During  this  time  he  built  four  churches  and  added  nearly 
one  hundred  to  the  circuit;  he  also  taught  school  two 
years  during  his  pastorate  there.  In  1886  he  was  or- 
dained elder  by  Bishop  Lomax  at  Mobile,  Ala.     He  has 

held  some  of  the  best  appointments  in  the  West  Alabama 
39 


584  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Annual  Conference,  namely,  Hunter's  Chapel,  Tusca- 
loosa, Ala.  ;  Hope's  Chapel,  Mobile,  Ala. ;  Johnson's 
Circuit,  Jefferson  Station,  and  is  now  at  Birdeye  Church, 
which  is  said  to  have  one  of  the  most  cultured  congrega- 
tions in  the  West  Alabama  Conference.  During  his 
pastorate  at  Tuscaloosa  he  rebuilt  the  parsonage,  reno- 
vated the  church,  and  added  sixty-six  to  the  member- 
ship. His  labor  at  Johnson  Circuit  was  a  financial  and 
spiritual  success.  While  at  Hope  Chapel,  Mobile,  the 
church  was  improved  in  every  particular.  He  is  now 
stationed  at  Birdeye  Church  and  Forkland  Mission ;  in 
less  than  two  months  he  has  nearly  completed  a  church 
at  this  point.  He  was  twice  a  delegate  to  the  General 
Conference,  in  1888  and  in  1892.  He  was  for  several 
years  editor  of  the  Star  of  Zion.  J.  S.  Jackson. 

REV.    JOHN    WESLEY    THOMAS. 

John  Wesley  Thomas  was  born  in  Catawba  County, 
N.  C,  in  1856,  and  was  converted  and  joined  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  1874,  under  the 
pastoral  care  of  Rev.  S.  S.  Murdock,  at  Statesville,  N.  C. 
He  served  the  church  of  his  choice  faithfully  as  steward, 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday  school,  and  trustee.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  North  Carolina  Annual  Conference 
which  convened  at  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  in  1879;  was  li- 
censed to  exhort  in  March,  1880,  by  Elder  S.  S.  Mur- 
dock, in  Mount  Pleasant  Church,  Statesville,  and  licensed 
as  a  local  preacher  in  July,  1880,  by  Elder  S.  M.  Hill. 
He  joined  the  Central  North  Carolina  Conference  in  1880, 
at  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood  presiding. 

From  this  Conference  he    received  his    first  appoint- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      585 

ment  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  Hickory  Circuit,  where 
he  served  two  years.  He  found  a  small  membership, 
very  much  discouraged  on  account  of  the  prosper- 
ous condition  of  the  Bethel  Church  in  that  place.  He 
succeeded  in  building  a  good  church,  which  greatly  en- 
couraged the  members.  He  also  added  one  hundred  to 
the  membership  found  there  on  his  arrival.  The  mem- 
bers and  officials  named  the  church  in  his  honor  Thomas 
Chapel.  Hon.  H.  C.  Denney,  attorney  at  law,  joined 
the  church  under  his  administration.  The  members 
unanimously  petitioned  for  his  return  the  third  year,  and 
the  bishop  granted  their  request.  He  told  the  bishop, 
however,  that  he  would  rather  not  return,  so  he  was  sent 
to  Rutherfordton,  N.  C.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in 
March,  1881,  at  Hickory,  by  Bishop  Hood.  The  second 
appointment  he  filled  was  St.  John's  Church,  Ruther- 
fordton, N.  C,  where  he  served  one  year,  improving  and 
adding  many  members  to  the  church.  His  third  appoint- 
ment was  at  Shelby ;  he  served  that  church  two  years, 
bought  two  lots  and  built  two  churches,  one  at  Shelby 
and  one  at  King's  Mountain,  leaving  an  increased  mem- 
bership of  more  than  two  hundred.  His  fourth  appoint- 
ment was  at  Biddleville,  Charlotte,  N.  C.  At  this  place 
he  served  two  years,  remodeled  the  church,  and  com- 
pleted a  church  at  Moore's  Sanctuary.  The  membership 
increased  greatly.  In  1886  he  was  ordained  to  the  office 
of  elder  at  Lincolnton,  N.  C,  by  Bishop  Hood.  His 
fifth  appointment  was  at  Little  Rock  Station,  Charlotte, 
serving  there  one  year.  During  that  time  he  paid  for  a 
church  lot  that  had  been  contracted  for  for  several  years, 
and    also   banked   more    than    sixty    dollars    for   a   new 


5! 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


church.  His  sixth  appointment  was  Evans  Chapel, 
Fayetteville,  N.  C.  He  served  two  years,  meeting-  with 
great  success,  spiritually  and  financially,  cleared  the 
church  of  debt,  and  left  four  hundred  dollars  in  bank  as 
a  church  fund.  He  was  elected  presiding  elder  in  1890, 
and  appointed  to  the  Wadesboro  District,  where  he  is 
serving  out  his  fourth  year.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
General  Conferences  at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  1888,  and 
Pittsburg,  Pa.,  1892. 


REV.    S.    T.    GRAY,    M.D. 

(See  sketch,  p.  66.) 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       587 
REV.    GEORGE    C.    CARTER. 

George  C.  Carter  was  born  at  Social  Circle,  Walton 
County,  Ga.,  September  19,  1850,  came  North  when  about 
fourteen  years  old  with  a  gentleman  who  was  then  living 
near  the  city  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  with  whom  he  was  to 
live  and  be  sent  to  school.  But  at  Williamsport,  Pa. ,  young 
Carter  was  run  over  by  the  cars,  his  left  leg  broken 
in  two  places,  and  he  was  otherwise  considerably  injured ; 
he  was  placed  on  the  next  north-bound  passenger  train, 
taken  to  Elmira,  and  placed  in  the  hospital.  On  his  re- 
covery young  Carter  made  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  his  home.  On 
the  19th  of  February,  1874,  he  was  converted  and  joined 
Zion  Church,  though  he  had  not  previously  been  attend- 
ing that  church.  Rev.  Carter's  conversion  was  quite  re- 
markable, and  a  special  meeting  was  called  to  receive  him 
into  the  church. 

In  February,  1880,  during  a  revival  in  Zion  Church, 
Carter  had  a  wonderful  experience,  in  which  the  divine 
call  to  the  ministry  was  so  strong  that  he  could  not  resist. 
Following  the  advice  of  his  pastor,  Rev.  Charles  A.  Smith, 
he  immediately  applied  for  a  local  preacher's  license,  and 
at  the  sitting  of  the  next  Annual  Conference  (September, 
1880),  he  joined  the  Conference  and  received  his  first 
appointment  at  Norwich,  N.  Y.,  under  the  late  Bishop 
J.  J.  Moore,  at  Rochester,  and  two  years  later  he  was 
ordained  elder  at  Binghamton,  N.  Y.,  by  Bishop  J.  P. 
Thompson. 

When  Brother  Carter  arrived  at  Norwich,  his  first  ap- 
pointment, he  found  a  neat  frame  structure  with  genuine 
stained   glass    and    a    seating    capacity    of    about   three 


588  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

hundred.  The  church  was  erected  as  a  Bethel  Church 
at  a  cost  of  $4,400,  including  lot.  After  a  hard  struggle 
by  the  pastors  and  members  the  church  was  finally  sold 
and  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  that  connection.  Just 
before  the  Annual  Conference  in  1880  the  people  sent 
word  to  the  minister  of  Zion  Church  at  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.,  desiring  to  be  organized  under  Zion,  and  Rev. 
J.  E.  Mason,  who  was  then  pastor  at  Binghamton, 
organized  and  brought  the  society  into  the  Conference. 
The  gentleman  who  owned  the  church  told  Rev.  Carter 
that  if  he  would  raise  $1,500  he  would  donate  $500,  the 
debt  being  $2,000.  It  was  a  big  undertaking  for  a 
young  man  on  his  first  charge,  but  after  one  year  and  six 
months  Rev.  Carter  had  not  only  collected  the  $1,500,  but 
had  put  over  a  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  improvements  on 
the  church.  After  serving  the  church  at  Norwich  three 
years,  during  which  time  there  were  several  additions, 
he  was  sent  in  1883,  under  Bishop  Thompson,  to  Johns- 
town and  Gloversville. 

The  church  at  Johnstown  was  in  the  same  condition  as 
the  church  at  Norwich,  in  that  it  had  been  sold  on  a  fore- 
closure mortgage.  Though  it  was  a  most  discouraging 
task,  yet  the  subject  of  our  sketch  went  at  it  in  a  practi- 
cal way,  and  in  two  years  not  only  raised  the  money  to 
buy  the  church  back  ($950),  but  the  dwelling  underwent 
extensive  repairs,  a  wall  was  put  under  the  entire  build- 
ing, a  corner  stone  laid,  a  vestibule  added,  and  the  build- 
ing was  thoroughly  renovated.  The  entire  cost  of  this 
work  was  over  $1,300.  After  two  years  at  Johnstown 
and  Gloversville  Rev.  Carter  was  stationed  at  Auburn, 
where  he   spent  a  part  of  two  terms  at  the  seminary  in 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       589 

the  department  of  practical  theology  and  sermonic  de- 
livery. In  two  years  the  membership  was  almost  doubled 
under  his  pastorate.  The  Church  property  here  for  years 
was  in  the  most  unsatisfactory  condition,  and  after  many 
hours  of  patient  investigation  by  Rev.  Carter  in  the 
county  clerk's  office  (in  which  no  less  than  seven  changes 
had  been  made)  it  was  proved  that  Zion  had  lost  every 
foot  of  a  beautiful  church  lot  66  by  289  feet. 

His  next  pastorate  was  at  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
served  three  years.  The  church  here  was  thoroughly 
renovated  at  a  cost  of  over  $250,  all  of  which  was  paid 
by  him  except  $92.  During  the  three  years  of  his  pas- 
torate two  very  successful  revival  services  were  held  and 
the  membership  was  doubled. 

After  one  year's  pastorate  in  Binghamton,  Brother 
Carter  asked  for  a  transfer  to  the  Michigan  and  Canada 
Conference,  and  was  stationed  at  Grand  Rapids.  But  be- 
fore he  could  get  his  goods  packed  the  bishop  changed 
the  appointment  to  Little  Falls,  where  he  is  at  present. 
On  assuming  the  pastorate  he  found  a  debt  of  about 
$1,500,  and  at  once  began  to  lay  plans  to  free  this  church 
from  debt.  Notwithstanding  the  financial  stringency  of 
the  country,  Rev.  Carter  has  persevered  against  every 
obstacle,  and  on  the  13th  of  February,  1894,  paid  every 
dollar  of  this  debt.  Four  years  ago  he  was  appointed 
by  the  board  of  bishops  as  superintendent  of  the  Church 
property  in  the  Genesee  District. 

REV.  A.   F.   GOSLEN. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  first  saw  the  light  in  Yadkin 
County,  N.  C,  near  Huntsville,  on  the  16th  of  October. 


590  ONE   HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

1844,  and  was  soundly  converted  November  19,  1863. 
Shortly  afterward  lie  was  convinced  that  his  mission 
in  this  world  was  to  preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  In 
1867  he  connected  himself  with  the  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  served  as  class  leader  for  three 
months,  at  the  expiration  of  which  time  he  was  licensed 
to  preach  by  Presiding  Elder  Thomas  Henderson.  In 
the  autumn  of  1867  he  joined  the  Annual  Conference, 
and  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Moore,  at 
Salisbury,  N.  C.  His  first  appointment  was  a  mission, 
which  he  soon  had  the  pleasure  of  organizing  into 
a  circuit  under  the  name  of  New  Hope,  consisting  of 
three  churches,  namely,  Tabernacle,  Double  Springs, 
and  New  Hope.  He  succeeded  in  building  churches  at 
each  of  those  points,  and  left  the  circuit  with  a  member- 
ship of  above  three  hundred. 

He  organized  a  church  at  Bethania  in  1869,  with  seven 
members,  and,  after  serving  them  six  years,  left  nearly 
two  hundred  members,  during  which  time  he  organized 
three  other  churches  at  Brookstown,  Flint  Hill,  and 
Green  Grove ;  these  churches  grew  accordingly.  In 
1875  he  was  appointed  by  Bishop  J.  W.  Hood  to  the 
China  Grove  Circuit,  which  embraced  four  churches. 
His  three  years'  administration  was  attended  with  a  won- 
derful outpouring  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  ingather- 
ing of  hundreds  of  souls  to  the  fold  of  Christ.  He  also 
completed  two  churches  and  built  a  first-class  church  at 
China  Grove.  In  1878  he  was  appointed  to  the  Mocks- 
ville  Circuit,  at  which  time  he  filled  the  position  of  pre- 
siding elder,  and  had  the  oversight  of  twenty  -  two 
churches.     At   this   point   the    Lord    blessed    the    work 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       591 

spiritually  and  financially.  In  1880  he  was  stationed 
at  Salisbury,  N.  C.  During-  his  stay  there  were  two  re- 
vivals, which  resulted  in  many  conversions  and  accessions 
to  the  church ;  he  also  liquidated  a  considerable  debt 
that  had  been  hanging  over  the  church  and  purchased 
the  first  organ.  During  his  stay  Salisbury  became  the 
seat  of  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  now  known  as  Livingstone 
College.  He  assisted  Professor  Harris  in  conducting  the 
devotional  services  on  the  morning  of  the  opening  of 
said  institute.  In  1883  he  was  stationed  at  States- 
ville,  N.  C. ;  during  his  one  year's  stay  there  was  a 
revival,  and  many  gathered  into  the  church.  He  can- 
celed a  church  debt  of  long  standing.  In  1884  he  was 
stationed  at  Wadesboro.  During  the  first  year  there  was. 
a  glorious  revival,  which  resulted  in  one  hundred  and 
sixty  conversions,  and  about  one  hundred  added  to  the 
church.  The  Lord  gave  him  special  success  spiritually 
and  financially  during  his  stay  of  four  years,  there  being 
not  less  than  five  hundred  conversions.  On  going  there 
he  found  the  church  shut  in.  He  ceiled,  plastered, 
and  beautified  the  church,  and  left  it  free  from  debt.  He 
also  bought  land,  organized  and  built  a  neat  church  four 
miles  south  of  Wadesboro,  known  as  Sneedsboro,  leaving 
it  free  from  debt,  with  a  flourishing  membership  of  eighty 
or  one  hundred.  Having  finished  his  term  at  Wadesboro, 
in  1888  and  1889  he  was  stationed  at  Lincolnton.  These 
two  years  were  attended  with  success  spiritually  and  finan- 
cially. The  Lord  blessed  him  with  two  or  three  hundred 
conversions.  He  considerably  improved  the  parsonage 
and  liquidated  the  church  debt.  In  1890  he  transferred 
from  the  North  Carolina  to  the  Arkansas  Conference,  and 


592  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

at  the  Annual  Conference  was  made  Presiding  Elder  of 
the  Little  Rock  District.  He  was  Presiding  Elder  of  this 
district  two  years,  organized  five  churches  and  built  two, 
witnessing  the  conversion  of  many  souls.  In  1892  and 
1893  he  presided  over  the  Parkdale  District,  organized 
two  churches  and  built  two,  with  the  assistance  of  his 
pastors.  He  is  now  pastor  at  Pine  Bluff,  Ark.,  engaged 
in  the  erection  of  the  Price  Memorial  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  is  hopeful  of  constructing 
one  of  the  finest  churches  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

REV.    ALEXANDER   JOHNSON    COLEMAN. 

Alexander  Johnson  Coleman  saw  light  at  Mabelville, 
Bibb  County,  Ala.,  December  5,  1838.  He  was  brought 
to  Poplar  Bluff,  Ashley  County,  Ark.,  at  the  age  of  fif- 
teen ;  served  as  a  slave  until  and  during  the  early  part  of 
the  civil  war,  being  taken  as  a  servant  on  the  Confed- 
erate side.  He  deserted  the  Confederate  service  and 
served  in  the  Union  Army  until  1 862 .  He  went  to  Pitts- 
burg, Pa. ,  and  embraced  a  hope  in  Jesus  on  New  Year's 
Day,  1866,  during  a  revival  conducted  by  Rev.  N.  H. 
Williams,  M.D.,  pastor  of  John  Wesley  African  Methodist 
Episcopal  Zion  Church.  That  spring  he  was  before  the 
board  and  received  a  local  preacher's  license.  When  on 
a  special  visit  to  that  church  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year 
Bishop  Loguen  set  him  apart  to  the  office  of  deacon. 
Immediately  following  his  conversion  Coleman  was  di- 
vinely impressed  to  go  as  a  missionary  to  the  State  of 
Arkansas ;  and  as  soon  as  the  office  of  deacon  was  im- 
posed upon  him  he  was  sent  by  Bishop  Loguen  to  build 
up  the  waste  places  in  Arkansas. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       593 

After  his  arrival  in  Arkansas  in  1866  he  became  a 
member  of  the  West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  Confer- 
ence. Bishop  S.  D.  Talbot  ordained  him  an  elder  on  the 
second  Wednesday  in  December,  1868.  He  took  in  the 
ranks  of  Zion  nearly  four  thousand  members.  In  1878 
he  made  a  motion  to  set  apart  a  Conference  in  Arkansas, 
686  members,  10  local  preachers,  9  exhorters,  he  being 
both  pastor  and  presiding  elder.  In  Mississippi  he 
organized  at  Courtland  and  Strong's  and  built  the  church 
at  Batesville,  at  a  cost  of  about  $3,000. 

In  Arkansas  he  has  organized  thirty  societies  and  built 
twelve  churches,  whose  value  is  about  $30,000;  also 
purchased  a  site  for  a  high  school  at  Parkdale,  Ark. 
He  has  been  Conference  Steward  four  years  and  a  pre- 
siding elder  all  his  ministerial  life  save  three  years,  and 
is  now  very  active  in  that  office.  He  has  been  elected 
five  times  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  and  has 
attended  three  times.  He  is  a  very  strong  preacher, 
having  a  voice  like  a  lion,  and  is  known  as  the  "  Battle 
ax"  of  Zion  in  Arkansas.  He  is  yet  active,  nearly 
fifty-six  years  of  age,  and  is  much  beloved  by  all  the 
members  of  the  Conference.  He  holds  his  own  as  father 
of  the  Arkansas  Conference,  and  is  destined  yet  to  do  a 
great  work  for  the  connection  he  so  much  loves.  He  is  a 
lover  of  young  men  and  of  education,  possessing  a  sur- 
prising degree  of  thought  and  power  for  one  having 
simply  a  common  school  education. 

REV.    W.    H.    CHAMBERS. 

W.  H.  Chambers  was  born  in  Montgomery  County, 
Ala.,  in  the  year  1848.     His  parents  were  set  free,  and 


594 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


with  their  children  emigrated  to  Ohio  in  1852.  There  he 
was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  that  progressive 
State.  He  received  higher  instruction  in  Bardstown, 
Ky.,  the  home  of  Bishop  Walters.  He  was  licensed  to 
preach  at  New  Albany,  Ind.,  in  1877;  two  months  after 
he  was  licensed  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  needed  a  man  to 
take  charge  of  a  circuit  of  five  churches.     Chambers  was 


REV.   W.   H.    CHAMBERS. 


selected,  and  he  did  so  well  that  Bishop  Jones  from  that 
time  had  the  most  unshaken  confidence  in  him,  and  till 
his  death  there  was  a  most  loving  friendship  between 
them. 

Rev.  Chambers  has  held  some  very  important  charges 
and  has  always  done  well.  When  Bishop  Hood  took 
charge  of  the  Allegheny  Conference  in  1883  the  church 
at  Allegheny  City  asked  for  a  transfer.     Chambers  had 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       595 

been  recommended  to  him  as  a  promising-  young  man, 
and  he  concluded  to  try  him  at  Avery  Mission  Church, 
Allegheny  City.  He  fully  met  the  bishop's  expectation, 
and  no  man  ever  succeeded  better  at  that  church ;  he  is 
still  a  favorite  with  that  congregation.  He  paid  off  the 
indebtedness  of  the  church  and  added  about  two  hun- 
dred members.  At  Jacob  Street  Tabernacle,  in  Louis- 
ville, Ky. ,  he  nearly  paid  off  the  indebtedness  and  added 
170  members. 

At  Indianapolis  he  succeeded  in  saving  the  church, 
which  was  in  a  very  critical  condition  when  he  took 
charge.  He  is  now  (1894)  in  charge  of  the  Morgan 
Street  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  colored  churches  in 
the  West.  He  found  it  about  $15,000  in  debt,  and  the 
people  somewhat  discouraged.  He  took  hold  with  his 
usual  energy  and  is  succeeding  grandly.  He  has  recently 
conducted  a  revival  resulting  in  247  conversions  and 
additions  to  the  church.  He  was  for  a  while  the  editor 
of  Zion  s  Banner,  at  Louisville,  Ky.  He  is  now  editor 
of  the  Alliance  Watchman.  He  has  been  three  times 
elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  from  Ken- 
tucky Conference.  In  our  opinion  no  better,  safer,  nor 
more  intelligent  delegate  has  ever  attended  the  General 
Conference.  He  has  proven  to  be  a  painstaking,  conser- 
vative, and  business-like  member  of  any  committee  on 
which  he  has  been  appointed.  We  should  not  fear  to 
trust  his  judgment  on  the  most  important  matters  that 
the  General  Conference  is  called  upon  to  consider.  He 
is  of  a  peculiar  make-up.  From  his  undaunted  courage, 
boldness,  energy,  and  snap  you  would  expect  to  find  him 


596  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

a  little  assuming.  Instead  of  this  he  is  personally  mod- 
est; so  modest  have  we  found  him  that  we  have  had 
hard  work  to  get  from  him  the  few  historical  facts  we  have 
been  permitted  to  record.  Short  as  this  sketch  is  we 
have  had  to  write  largely  from  our  personal  knowledge. 
We  regard  him  as  a  hard-working,  loyal,  and  true  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  minister. 

REV.    J.   H.   TRIMBLE. 

J.  H.  Trimble  was  born  August  14,  1849,  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Maryland.  His  mother  and  children  were  set 
free  in  1856  and  moved  into  the  western  part  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  sought  education  at  the  public  school,  but  was 
denied  on  account  of  his  color.  He  had  access,  however, 
to  the  Sabbath  school  in  the  white  church,  where  he  got 
a  little  start  in  the  way  of  an  education.  He  entered  the 
army  as  drummer  boy,  but  after  he  was  sworn  in  he  was 
given  a  gun  instead  of  a  drum,  and  was  finally  promoted 
to  the  position  of  corporal  of  Company  G,  Twenty-fifth 
Regiment,  United  States  Colored  Troops.  He  remained 
in  the  service  two  years,  on  duty  in  North  Carolina, 
Louisiana,  Florida,  and  Mobile,  Ala.  During  this  time 
he  studied  by  the  camp  fires.  He  was  converted  and 
joined  the  Church  in  1866,  and  entered  the  ministry  in 
1880,  in  the  Allegheny  Conference,  of  which  Conference 
he  continued  an  honored  member  until  the  formation  of 
the  Ohio  Conference.  He  has  organized  three  societies, 
bought  and  paid  for  three  church  lots,  and  has  lifted  the 
mortgages  from  four  churches.  He  has  had  success  at 
every  point  he  has  served,  and  is  quite  a  revivalist.  He 
has  published  a  valuable  little  catechism.     He  was  a  del- 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     597 

egate  to  the  General  Conference  in  1892,  and  marshaled 
his  members  of  the  Avery  Mission  Church  to  the  support 
of  the  General  Conference  so  well  that  they  came  near 
carrying  away  the  honors  of  the  occasion.  He  is  now  the 
presiding  elder  of  the  Ohio  Conference,  and  is  proving 
the  wisdom  of  the  choice.  Trimble  cannot  be  called 
brilliant,  but  he  is  solid,  and  has  a  quiet,  honest,  Chris- 
tian bearing  which  enables  him  to  win  his  way.  When 
he  was  appointed  at  Avery  Mission  it  was  generally 
thought  that  the  bishop  had  made  a  mistake,  but  no 
predecessor  in  recent  years  did  better,  and  very  few 
as  well. 

REV.    MARTIN    R.    FRANKLIN. 

Martin  R.  Franklin  was  born  near  Macon,  Ga.,  Jan- 
uary 8,  1853.  His  parents  were  sold  from  him  when 
he  was  an  infant,  and  he  has  never  seen  or  heard  from 
them  since.  He  followed  Sherman's  army,  and  reached 
the  North  in  1865.  He  resided  in  Illinois,  near  Chicago, 
for  several  years.  He  entered  Wayland  Seminary  in 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  1879,  where  he  studied  for  two 
years.  While  there  he  embraced  religion  in  Asbury 
Church.  He  went  to  Boston,  Mass.,  in  1881,  and  joined 
Zion  Church,  North  Russell  Street,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  the  same  year.  In  1884  he  joined  the  Central 
North  Carolina  Conference.  He  was  ordained  deacon  in 
1886  and  elder  in  1888.  His  first  appointment  was  at 
Laurinburg,  N.  C,  where  he  erected  a  church,  and 
gave  new  life  to  work  which  had  been  languishing 
for  some  years.  His  other  appointments  in  that  Confer- 
ence were  Manley,  Carthage,  and  Statesville,  at  all  of 
which  he  did  well.     Rev.  Franklin  is  a  most  promising 


598  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

young  man,  of  splendid  Christian  character,  and  an  ex- 
cellent preacher.  He  is  now  in  charge  of  Avery  Mission 
Church  in  Allegheny  City,  Pa. 

W.    D.    CLINTON,    M.D. 

W.  D.  Clinton  was  born  August  29,  1863,  at  Dry  Creek, 
Lancaster  County,  S.  C.  He  is  the  son  of  Bishop  I.  C. 
Clinton,  D.D.,  of  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Zion  Church.  His  mother,  Winnie  Louisa,  was  a 
woman  noted  for  her  Christian  piety.  Dr.  Clinton 
was  sent  to  the  public  schools  of  his  county  at  the  age  of 
six  years.  He  applied  himself  assiduously  to  the  few 
branches  which  were  taught  at  that  time  until  1876,  when 
his  father's  family  moved  to  Lancaster,  the  county  seat 
of  Lancaster  County,  where  the  future  doctor  attended 
the  public  school  and  worked  on  the  farm  during  vaca- 
tions. He  was  prepared  for  college  in  the  Petty  High 
School,  entered  upon  his  collegiate  course  at  Zion  Wesley 
College  (now  Livingstone  College)  at  Salisbury,  N.  C, 
remained  there  during  his  freshman  and  part  of  his  soph- 
omore year.  Leaving  there  in  1885,  he  entered  upon 
the  study  of  medicine  in  the  medical  department  of  Shaw 
University,  Raleigh,  N.  C,  where  he  graduated  in  the 
class  of  '89  with  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Medicine.  In 
the  early  part  of  1890  he  appeared  before  the  board  of 
medical  examiners  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va.,  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  a  certificate  requisite  to  the  practice  of  his 
profession  in  the  State  of  West  Virginia.  He  passed  a 
very  creditable  examination,  making  an  average  of 
ninety-eight  and  a  half  per  cent.  The  doctor  acquired 
such  proficiency  in  his  profession  that  after  a  period  of 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       599 


W.   D.   CLINTON,    M.D. 


nine  months'  residence  in  Wheeling,  and  having  obtained 
the  friendship  of  a  number  of  the  members  of  his  profes- 
sion there,  he  was  appointed  by  Dr.  G.  I.  Garrison  (who 
was  health  officer  for  the  city)  as  his  assistant.     In  the 

early  part  of  1891  he  was  invited  to  read  a  paper  before 
40 


600  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

the  Tri-State  Sanitary  Association.  His  subject,  "Floods 
as  They  Affect  the  People  of  South  Carolina,"  was  re- 
garded as  an  able  disquisition,  and  was  published  in  the 
journal  of  the  association  before  which  it  was  read.  Dr. 
Clinton  moved  from  Wheeling  to  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1 89 1 ,  and  was  examined  by  the  faculty  of  the  medi- 
cal department  of  the  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
His  examination  was  satisfactory,  and  he  received  a  cer- 
tificate which  entitled  him  to  practice  medicine  in  the 
State.  He  was  married  to  Miss  Lucie  Caliman,  of  Zanes- 
ville,  0.,  March  2,  1892.  Miss  Caliman  taught  in  the 
public  schools  of  Wheeling  when  the  doctor  practiced 
medicine  there.  Dr.  Clinton  is  noted  for  his  affability 
of  disposition  and  geniality  of  nature ;  he  has  become 
prominent  among  the  medical  fraternity  of  Pittsburg 
as  a  physician  and  a  gentleman.  Early  in  life  he  became 
a  professing  Christian  and  a  member  of  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church.  He  is  very  closely 
allied  to  the  ministry,  as  his  father,  brother,  and  foster 
brother  are  ministers  of  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Zion  Connection.  He  is  a  communicant  of  John 
Wesley  Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  of  which  his  brother, 
Rev.  F.  A.  Clinton,  is  pastor. 

J.  Welfred  Holmes. 

REV.   SIMEON    F.    DICKSON. 

Simeon  F.  Dickson  was  born  in  the  city  of  Bridgeport, 
Conn.,  June  15,  1852,  moved  with  his  parents  to  Brook- 
lyn, E.  D.,  at  an  early  age,  was  converted  on  January 
31,  1873,  and  united  with  the  African  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Zion  Church.      He  was  licensed  as  local  preacher  June 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      601 

10,  1874;  united  with  the  New  York  Conference  in  May, 
1877;  was  ordained  a  deacon  in  1878,  and  an  elder  in 
1880,  by  the  late  Bishop  Moore. 

His  first  charge  was  Baxtertown  Station,  where  he 
remained  one  year,  finished  paying  off  the  indebtedness, 
and  added  several  to  the  church.  Second  charge,  1878, 
1879,  Gravesend  Circuit,  embracing  Unionville,  Flush  - 


REV.    S.    F.    DICKSON. 


ing,  and  Lakeville.  At  the  former  place  he  remodeled 
the  church  at  a  cost  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars ;  at 
the  two  latter  places  a  revival  was  in  progress,  when  he 
was  called  to  take  charge  of  the  church  at  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.,  during  the  fall  of  1879,  in  order  to  save  this  valu- 
able church  to  Zion,  which,  under  God  and  a  few  faithful 
adherents,  was  accomplished. 

In  the  year  1880  he  was  assigned  to  lift  the  mortgage 


602  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS  OF   THE 

and  build  up  the  work  at  Peekskill,  in  which  he  succeeded 
fairly  well.  In  1881  he  was  sent  to  Hudson,  N.  Y., 
with  some  degree  of  success ;  was  removed  to  Nyack  in 
1882,  and  served  there  eighteen  months  with  acceptance. 
The  late  Bishop  S.  T.  Jones  transferred  him  to  the  Vir- 
ginia Conference,  November,  1884,  assigning  him  to 
Portsmouth,  Va.,  where  he  remained  one  year,  re- 
modeled the  church,  and  added  several  to  its  member- 
ship. In  1885  he  was  sent  to  Elizabeth  City,  N.  C, 
where  he  remained  three  years.  The  first  year  there 
were  twenty-seven  converts ;  second  year,  forty-five  con- 
verts and  a  beautiful  parsonage  of  seven  rooms  erected ; 
third  year,  one  hundred  converts.  He  was  then  sent 
by  Bishop  Hood  to  Edenton,  N.  C,  remaining  there 
two  and  a  half  years;  remodeled  the  church  for  the 
sitting  of  Conference  in  1890.  During  his  pastorate  here 
eighty  were  added  to  the  church.  He  was  transferred 
to  the  New  York  Conference  and  sent  to  Troy  in 
1 89 1  ;  lifted  nearly  fifteen  hundred  dollars  floating  in- 
debtedness, besides  keeping  up  the  current  expenses 
and  improving  the  church  property.  Twenty-five  have 
been  added  to  the  membership. 

JOHN    TAYLOR    WILLIAMS,   M.D. 

Dr.  Williams  was  born  May  1,  1859,  in  the  northern 
part  of  Cumberland  County,  about  eighteen  miles  from 
the  city  of  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  in  Little  River  township. 

His  father,  Peter  Williams,  was  a  lumberman  of  some 
repute.  His  mother,  Flora  Ann  McKay,  was  the  third 
daughter  of  Alexander  and  Maria  McKay.  His  father 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  but  was  a  man  of  unusual 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      603 

natural  attainments.  The  family  consisted  of  seven  boys 
and  five  girls.  Of  the  boys  two  died  in  youth,  two  be- 
came ministers  of  the  Gospel,  one  a  mechanic,  one  a 
farmer,  and  one  a  doctor  of  medicine. 

His  mother  taught  him  his  letters  in  his  sixth  year. 


J.    T.    WILLIAMS,    M.D. 

In  1867  his  parents  moved  to  Harnett  County,  N.  C, 
where  his  father  employed  a  white  widow  lady  to  teach  his 
children,  paying  for  the  same  in  work  on  her  farm.  Dur- 
ing 1868,  1869,  and  1870  John  mastered  Webster's  "  blue 
back"  speller  and  acquired  considerable  proficiency  in  the 
English  branches.  He  was  a  constant  reader.  At  sixteen 
he  had  read  everything  in  his  mother's  library,  consisting 


604  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

mostly  of  memoirs,  -historical  works,  biographies,  etc. 
His  parents  were  both  consistent  members  of  the  Church, 
his  father  a  Presbyterian,  his  mother  a  Methodist. 

He  joined  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  his  age  at  Love  Grove, 
Harnett  County,  during  the  pastoral  charge  of  Rev.  John 
Murchison,  and  professed  faith  in  Christ  three  years 
later.  He  has  occupied  every  position  as  layman  in  the 
Church ;  has  represented  the  Church  in  Quarterly,  District, 
and  Annual  Conferences  consecutively  for  eighteen  years. 
He  was  delegate  to  the  Christmas  Conference  of  Metho- 
dism in  Baltimore,  but  could  not  attend,  and  also  repre- 
sented the  Western  North  Carolina  Conference  at  Pitts- 
burg, Pa.,  in  General  Conference,  1892.  He  has  gained 
wide  experience  as  teacher  in  the  public  and  private 
schools  and  academies  of  the  State,  and  has  been  a  con- 
stant worker  in  the  Sunday  schools  of  the  Church.  He  is 
now  trustee  of  the  Varick  Memorial  Publishing  House, 
Charlotte,  N.  C.  He  entered  the  State  Normal  School 
in  1876,  at  Fayetteville,  N.  C,  and  graduated  at  the 
head  of  his  class  in  1880,  afterward  teaching  school 
in  the  towns  of  Lillington,  Monroe,  Rutherford,  South- 
port,  and  Charlotte,  N.  C.  He  was  elected  Assistant 
Principal  of  the  city  graded  schools  of  Charlotte,  N.  C, 
in  1882,  but  resigned  his  position  to  study  medicine  in 
Leonard  Medical  College  in  1883,  graduating  with  the 
degree  of  M.D.  in  1886.  After  graduating  he  was 
licensed  before  the  Board  of  Medical  Examiners  of  the 
State  of  North  Carolina,  being  one  of  the  first  Negro 
physicians  so  honored  in  that  State.  He  located  in  Char- 
lotte, soon  built  up  a  large  practice,  and  is  now  surgeon 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      605 

in  charge  of  the  Union  Hospital,  visiting  surgeon  to  the 
Samaritan  Hospital,  and  member  of  the  Board  of  Health 
of  Mecklenburg  County.  He  was  appointed  Surgeon 
Captain,  First  Battalion  North  Carolina  State  Guards,  by 
Governor  A.  M.  Scales  in  1888,  and  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Aldermen  for  the  city  of  Charlotte  sev- 
eral years. 

He  was  married  in  1887  to  Miss  May  E.  Killian,  of 
Raleigh,  who  died  shortly  afterward.  In  1890  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Jennie  E.  Harris,  of  Concord,  N.  C,  niece  of 
Hon.  W.  C.  Coleman,  and  a  graduate  of  both  Scotia  Sem- 
inary and  Livingstone  College.  Dr.  Williams  enjoys  the 
confidence  and  respect  of  the  citizens  of  his  city  and  State. 
In  business  he  has  proven  himself  a  decided  success ;  be- 
sides being  President  of  the  Queen  City  Drug  Company 
he  is  largely  engaged  in  real  estate  and  farming  interests. 

He  has  always  kept  his  temperance  pledge,  and  does  not 
use  tobacco  in  any  form.  He  has  been  prominently  men- 
tioned for  congressional  honors ;  though  not  a  politician  he 
is  at  all  times  a  stanch  advocate  of  the  rights  of  his  race. 

REV.    WILLIAM    T.    W.    BIDDLE. 

William  T.  W.  Biddle  was  born  in  Cecil  County,  Md., 
1833.  His  father  was  a  slave  until  a  certain  age,  but  his 
mother  was  freeborn.  They  removed  to  Baltimore  in  or 
about  the  year  1835.  His  parents  being  poor  he  re- 
ceived no  education,  and  but  for  a  Christian  mother  and 
that  blessed  institution,  the  Sabbath  school,  he  would 
not  have  known  the  alphabet.  When  about  seven  or 
eight  years  old  he  was  signally  wrought  upon  at  a  prayer 
meeting  held  at  his  mother's  house,  which  impression 


606  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

never  left  him,  though  wandering  from  the  right  at 
times,  until  the  year  1858,  when  a  great  revival  was 
being  held  in  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion 
Church,  South  Howard  Street,  Baltimore.  Rev.  David, 
the  pastor,  licensed  him  to  exhort.  Not  remaining  long 
in  this  capacity,  he  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Rev.  J.  P. 
Hamer,  and  received  into  Conference.  He  left  home 
in  i860  and  went  on  the  Chambersburg  Circuit  under 
Rev.  John  D.  Brooks,  through  whose  fatherly  advice  and 
counsel  he  procured  some  books.  That  year  he  was  or- 
dained deacon  by  Bishop  William  H.  Bishop,  and  in  1862 
was  ordained  elder  by  Bishop  J.  J.  Clinton,  at  Philadel- 
phia. He  has  been  associated  with  the  following  Con- 
ferences :  the  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  Allegheny, 
Kentucky,  Genesee,  and  New  Jersey.  Rev.  Biddle  is 
quite  gifted  poetically.  The  following  are  some  of  the 
emanations  from  his  pen  : 

God,  our  Creator,  does  demand 

A  heart  sincere  in  praise  ; 
A  formal  worship  he  disdains, 

Abhors  its  useless  ways. 

No  cold  and  dead  nor  formal  state, 

Nor  undivided  heart, 
Should  e'er  presume  on  God  to  wait, 

And  meager  praise  impart. 

Assured  if  we  in  heart  regard 

Iniquity  and  sin, 
By  thee  our  prayer  will  not  be  heard ; 

We  must  be  pure  within. 

To  worship  thee,  O  Lord,  aright. 

We  must  in  holy  fear 
Approach  thy  presence  with  delight, 

In  humbleness  draw  near. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION   CHURCH.       607 

With  contrite  heart,  on  bended  knee, 
My  gracious  Lord,  I  come  to  thee 
To  ask  in  Jesus'  name  a  place, 
To  seek  for  pardon  and  for  grace. 

My  sin  and  guilt  too  mighty  are  ; 
Dear  Lord,  tis  more  than  I  can  bear; 
At  Jesus'  feet  I  now  them  lay 
His  blood  can  wash  their  stains  away. 

His  blood  alone  shall  be  my  plea. 
He  bore  my  sins  upon  the  tree  ; 
I  cannot  for  one  sin  atone, 
It  must  be  Christ,  and  him  alone. 

O  thou  who  hear'st  the  sinner's  prayer, 
Who  did'st  a  sacrifice  prepare, 
My  soul,  O  Lord,  do  thou  release, 
And  bid  me  go  in  perfect  peace. 


Send  out  thy  light  and  truth 

In  all  the  earth  abroad, 
So  that  the  aged  and  the  youth 

May  all  obey  thy  word. 

Let  each  thy  wisdom  learn, 

Who  search  the  Scriptures  well, 

For  light  and  strength  to  stand,  be  firm 
Against  the  powers  of  hell. 

That  all  may  truly  know 

Thy  power,  O  Lord,  to  save ; 

And  each  thy  goodness  ever  show 
To  man,  snatched  from  the  grave. 

They  shall  victorious  be 

Who  on  thy  truth  rely ; 
For  wisdom,  grace  continually 

Shall  find  a  rich  supply. 

Let  earth  and  all  therein 

Unite  to  praise  the  Lord ; 
All  lands  and  oceans  now  begin 

To  sound  his  fame  abroad. 


608  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

Sea,  lift  thy  mighty  voice, 

Floods,  clap  your  hands  for  joy; 

Let  all  the  little  hills  rejoice, 

While  praise  their  notes  employ. 

Ye  mountains,  raise  your  heads, 
In  awe  before  him  stand, 

While  forests  with  their  anthems  spread 
The  wonders  of  his  hand. 

Ye  nations  of  the  earth, 

Lift  up  your  heads  on  high  ; 

Adore  the  Author  of  your  birth, 
He  rules  both  earth  and  sky. 


REV.    CHARLES    H.    SMITH,    B.D. 

Charles  H.  Smith  was  born  in  Jones  County,  near 
New  Berne,  N.  C,  in  1853,  and  is  the  son  of  Thomas  and 
Harriet  Smith.  At  an  early  age  he  entered  the  Northern 
school  at  New  Berne,  remaining  there  till  he  obtained  a 
normal  education,  and  then  attended  St.  Augustine  Col- 
lege, Raleigh,  N.  C,  for  three  years.  He  occupied  the 
position  of  principal  of  the  Wilson  graded  school,  giving 
entire  satisfaction,  until,  becoming  desirous  of  entering 
the  ministry,  he  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  J.  W. 
Hood  at  Salisbury  in  November,  1877,  and  given  charge 
of  Snow  Hill  Circuit.  Here  he  so  rapidly  increased  the 
membership  that  Bishop  Hood  divided  the  work,  making 
two  circuits.  In  1880  he  was  ordained  an  elder  at  Tar- 
boro,  N.  C.  When  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as  pastor 
of  the  Whiteville  Circuit  he  found  the  Methodists  and 
Baptists  worshiping  in  the  same  church  edifice,  and  at 
once  set  to  work  and  built  a  beautiful  church  for  Zion. 
A  strong  man  was  needed  at  Henderson,  the  Baptists  be- 
ing about  to  absorb  the  Methodists.    Elder  Smith  entered 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH. 


609 


this  field,  published  a  pamphlet  on  the  proper  mode  of 
baptism,  which  obtained  a  general  circulation,  and  soon 


REV.   C.    H.    SMITH,    B.D. 


became  master  of  the  situation.      Henderson  is  now  one 
of  the  strongholds  of  Zion  in  the  North  Carolina  Confer- 


6lO  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 

ence.  In  1887  Rev.  Smith  was  appointed  pastor  of  St. 
Peter's  Church  at  New  Berne  and  grandly  entertained  the 
General  Conference  at  that  church  in  1888.  A  large 
debt  on  the  church  was  canceled  during  his  pastorate. 
While  at  New  Berne  he  married  the  accomplished  Miss 
Mamie  Stanley,  a  teacher  in  the  graded  school  of  that 
city.  Mrs.  Smith  makes  a  model  minister's  wife. 
While  a  member  of  the  North  Carolina  Conference  Rev. 
Smith  won  the  first  prize  in  gold  for  the  largest  collection 
of  General  Fund.  He  was  a  member  of  the  General  Con- 
ferences of  1884,  1888,  and  1892.  He  was  transferred  to 
the  West  Alabama  Conference,  where  he  erected  a  fine 
parsonage  at  Jefferson  and  relieved  the  church  of  debt.  At 
Selma,  Ala.,  he  saved  the  church,  which  was  about  to  be 
sold,  and  greatly  reduced  its  debt.  He  is  a  strong  tem- 
perance advocate,  is  generous  and  sympathetic,  and  an 
able  scholar  and  theologian. 

EDWARD    MOORE,    PH.D. 

Edward  Moore  was  born  on  the  2 2d  day  of  June,  1853, 
near  the  town  known  as  Little  Washington,  in  eastern 
North  Carolina.  He  was  the  second  of  seven  chil- 
dren born  to  James  H.  and  Peggy  A.  Moore.  The  first 
eight  years  of  his  life  were  spent  under  the  watchful  care 
and  protection  of  both  parents,  but  the  call  to  arms  in 
our  late  unpleasantness  deprived  him  for  a  time  of  a  fa- 
ther's attention,  his  father  having  enlisted  in  the  United 
States  army,  and  served  with  the  prospect  of  freeing  the 
slaves  as  well  as  the  preservation  of  the  Union. 

These  years  of  his  absence,  however,  were  attended 
with  no  unfavorable  results  in  the  development  of  young 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       6ll 

Moore,  for  he  was  under  the  training  of  a  vigorous,  ener- 
getic Christian  mother,  who  appreciated  the  advantages 
made  possible  by  the  opening  of  the  Freedmen's  schools, 
and  Edward,  with  the  other  children,  shared  the  benefits' 
of  the  instruction  given  by  those  well-educated,  pains- 


PROFESSOR   E.   MOORE,   A.M.,  PH.D. 


taking  New  England  young  ladies  who  taught  in  the 
neighborhood  immediately  after  the  war.  These  self- 
denying  Christian  teachers  aided  him,  as  they  did  many 
others,  in  laying  the  foundation  for  an  early  education 
and  a  subsequent  life  of  great  usefulness. 


6 12  ONE  HUNDRED  YEARS  OF  THE 

He  early  gave  proofs  of  a  mind  noted  for  vigor  and 
acquisitiveness;  through  the  training  of  these  schools, 
by  private  study,  and  later  by  attending  the  school  under 
the  principalship  of  W.  P.  Mabson,  of  Tarboro,  N.  C, 
at  one  time  having  the  honor  of  being  the  most  distin- 
guished teacher  of  eastern  North  Carolina,  Mr.  Moore 
was  prepared  for  college. 

It  was  while  studying  at  Tarboro  he  met  and  made  the 
acquaintance  and  became  the  stanch  friend  and  class- 
mate of  J.  C.  Dancy,  the  distinguished  layman  of  the 
African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church,  and  the  two 
have  ever  since  been  very  sincere  friends. 

In  the  fall  of  1874  he  entered  the  freshman  class  of  Lin- 
coln University,  Pa.  ;  and  ranked  deservedly  high  in 
scholarship  and  manly  deportment.  He  was  here  associ- 
ated as  classmate  with  the  late  J.  C.  Price,  D.D. ;  Dr. 
N.  F.  Mossell,  of  the  Philadelphia  Medical  Fraternity; 
Dr.  Jamison,  of  York,  Pa.  ;  and  as  his  college  associates 
Rev.  J.  P.  Williams,  D.D.,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church ;  Dr.  Goler,  of  our  own  Church ;  Dr.  Weaver 
and  Rev.  W.  C.  Brown,  of  the  Presbyterian,  and 
Rev.  S.  P.  Hood. 

He  graduated  in  1879  with  high  honors.  He  came 
South  and  was  employed  as  principal  of  the  Wilson 
Academy,  where  he  served  successfully  for  two  years, 
having  in  the  meantime  prepared  for  different  colleges  a 
number  of  young  men,  among  whom  are  Professor  D.  C. 
Suggs,  A.M.,  now  vice  president  of  the  A.  and  M. College, 
Savannah,  Ga. ;  Samuel  N.  Vick,  Postmaster  Wilson, 
N.  C,  Professor  B.  R.  Winstead,  principal  of  the  Wilson 
graded  school.      He  was  also  private  instructor  to  S.  A. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       613 

Smith,  now  one  of  the  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  the 
Wilson  bar. 

It  was  at  Wilson  that  he  met  the  accomplished  Miss 
Serena  L.  Suggs,  and  after  years  of  wooing  succeeded  in 
making  her  his  wife  in  1881.  The  result  of  this  union 
has  been  a  happy  home  and  four  healthy  children,  two 
boys  and  two  girls,  to  cheer  and  bless  his  life. 

In  the  establishment  of  Zion  Wesley  Institute,  which 
has  since  become  Livingstone  College,  Professor  Moore 
yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  his  classmate,  Dr.  J.  C. 
Price,  and  associated  in  the  educational  work  of  that 
institution.  His  services  were  of  incalculable  value  to 
Dr.  Price. 

Professor  Moore  is  a  hard  student,  and  possesses  the 
ability  of  making  the  result  of  his  study  felt  upon  those 
he  teaches.  He  is  an  earnest  Christian,  especially  de- 
voted to  all  that  concerns  Zion  Church  and  the  spread  of 
the  connection.  He  passed  a  successful  examination  and 
received  the  degree  of  Ph.D.  from  his  alma  mater  in 
1893.  He  is  now  spending  his  summer  vacation  in  the 
study  of  medicine  at  San  Francisco,  Cal.   •      W.  H.  G. 

REV.    JESSE    SUMNER    COWLES. 

Jesse  Sumner  Cowles  was  born  in  James  City  County, 
Va.,  December  8,  1848.  In  June,  1862,  he  was  taken  by 
Union  soldiers  to  Connecticut,  where  he  lived  until  the 
fall  of  1863,  when  he  enlisted  in  the  Twenty-ninth  Con- 
necticut  Regiment,  Company  F,  and  served  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  He  was  wounded  in  the  battle  on 
Newmarket  Road,  November  22,  1864,  and  was  hon- 
orably  discharged   at    Hartford,    Conn.,    November  27, 


614 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF    THE 


1865.      He  was  converted  while  in  the  hospital  at  Hamp- 
ton, Va.,  1865. 

He  learned  to  read  and  write  at  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Zion  Sabbath  school,  Pearl  Street, 
Hartford,  Conn. ;  thence  he  moved  to  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  and  attended  public  school  until  prepared  to 
enter  the  Wesleyan  University,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
graduated   in    1872.      He  also  attended    the   theological 


REV.    J.    S.    COWLES. 

school,  Boston,  Mass. ;  was  licensed  June  20,  1872,  as  a 
local  preacher  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church ;  joined 
the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Conference,  1874, 
at  New  Haven,  Conn. ;  was  ordained  deacon  at  Red  Bank, 
N.  J.,  June  12,  1875,  and  an  elder  at  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
September  8,  1876;  was  transferred  to  the  Allegheny 
Conference,  served  John  Wesley  Church,  Pittsburg,  Pa., 
four    years,   and    Avery    Mission,   Allegheny  City,    two 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.      615 

years ;  transferred  to  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, and  stationed  at  John  Wesley  Church,  Washington, 
D.  C,  where  he  built  a  very  pretty  church.  He  was  then 
transferred  to  the  New  York  Conference,  and  stationed  at 
Mother  Zion  Church,  New  York  city,  where  he  remained 
three  years  and  three  months.  While  there  he  commenced 
improving  the  church,  and  held  the  first  anniversary 
known  to  Mother  Zion.  Transferred  to  New  England 
Conference,  and  stationed  at  the  First  Church,  Providence, 
R.  I.,  one  year.  Transferred  again  to  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  Conference  and  stationed  at  Galbreth  Church, 
Washington,  D.  C.  Returned  the  second  term  to  John 
Wesley  Church  in  that  city.  In  all  of  these  churches  he 
had  large  revivals,  resulting  in  the  conversion  of  many 
precious  souls.  He  also  built  a  church  at  Jack's  Run, 
in  the  Allegheny  Conference,  and  completed  Wright's 
Chapel,  at  Little  Washington,  Pa. 

He  was  steward  of  the  Allegheny,  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  and  New  York  Conferences,  and  secretary  of 
the  Allegheny,  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore  Conferences. 
He  has  been  elected  four  times  in  succession  as  a  delegate 
to  the  General  Conferences  at  Alabama,  New  York,  New 
Berne,  and  Pittsburg,  all  of  which  he  attended  with  credit 
to  the  Conferences  which  he  represented.  All  the 
churches  which  he  has  served  as  pastor  have  been  greatly 
benefited  by  his  services. 

REV.    JOHN    THOMAS. 

John  Thomas  joined  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  Virginia,  September,  183 1,  no  colored  organizations  be- 
ing allowed  at  that  period  in  the  South.     In  the  same 

41 


6l6  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

year  he  came  to  Pennsylvania,  and  united  with  the  Bethel 
Church,  near  Philadelphia,  in  1833  ;  from  thence  moved 
to  Silver  Lake  in  1836.  Changed  his  relationship  from 
Bethel  to  Zion  connection  in  1837.  Came  to  Utica  in 
1838  and  became  a  class  leader;  in  1840  moved  to  Bing- 
hamton ;  in  1 843  received  a  local  preacher's  license  un- 
der John  Tappin ;  in  1852  was  ordained  deacon,  and  in 
1854  elder,  by  Bishop  William  H .  Bishop.  Since  that  time 
he  has  built  a  church  at  Syracuse,  and  one  at  Bingham- 
ton,  besides  repairing  five  other  churches.  His  appoint- 
ments have  all  been  within  the  Genesee  District. 

REV.   M.   H.   D.   ROSS. 

Rev.  Major  Hillery  Decoursey  Ross  was  born  in  the 
township  of  Friendship,  Md.,  January  21,  1835.  His 
father,  Benjamin  Ross,  and  his  mother,  Rebecca  Decour- 
sey, were  formerly  slaves.  His  father  purchased  his  own 
freedom  and  that  of  his  wife.  Major  was  the  youngest 
of  fourteen  children ;  at  the  age  of  six  he  was  bound  out 
to  Mr.  John  Childs,  a  wealthy  farmer  and  mechanic,  to 
learn  a  trade.  Mr.  Childs  was  a  leading  member  in  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  considered  a  zealous 
Christian.  He  saw  that  Major  was  a  promising  boy,  and 
he  sent  him  to  school  with  his  children,  where  he  was 
taught  the  common  branches.  Major  continued  to  pur- 
sue his  studies,  and  placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of 
Rev.  R.  L.  Dashiell,  D.D.,  then  President  of  Dickinson 
College,  who  taught  him  Greek,  Latin,  and  Hebrew. 
Drs.  Dashiell  and  McCauley  and  Bishop  Simpson  took 
great  interest  in  instructing  him,  with  a  view  of  sending 
him  as  missionary  to  Liberia.     Major  embraced  religion 


AFRICAN    METHODIST. EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       617 

while  young ;  liis  early  life  was  spent  in  studying  and 
preparing  himself  for  future  usefulness  in  life.  He  was 
always  a  great  lover  of  music.  At  ten  years  of  age  he 
was  put  under  the  instruction  of  W.  B.  Bradbury,  of 
New  York,  author  of  the  Lute  of  Zion,  Mr.  Barrett,  Henry 
M.  Leach,  and  other  noted  musicians.     He  soon  became 


1 


REV.    M.    H.    D.    ROSS. 


a  leader  in  vocal  music,  and  made  such  proficiency  that 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  National  Musical  Asso- 
ciation, and  is  still  recognized  by  that  association.  In 
1856  he  was  licensed  to  preach,  and  labored  successfully 
throughout  Anne  Arundel  and  Calvert  Counties,  Annap- 
olis,  and  Baltimore,    Md.,   until  the  war.      He   enlisted 


6l8  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

in  the  army,  and  served  in  the  109th  New  York  Regi- 
ment, under  Colonel  B.  F.  Tracy.  After  the  battle  of 
the  Wilderness  he  came  with  Colonel  Tracy  to  Owego, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  made  his  home.  He  joined  the  Gen- 
esee Annual  Conference,  which  met  in  the  city  of  Elmira, 
N.  Y.,  in  September,  1864.  He  has  been  an  earnest 
worker  and  acceptable  preacher,  and  held  large  and 
prominent  stations  in  various  large  cities  throughout  the 
connection :  Little  Falls,  Syracuse,  Rochester,  Ithaca, 
Wilkesbarre,  Saratoga  Springs,  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
Washington,  D.  C,  Baltimore,  Troy,  Newburg,  Kings- 
ton, and  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  where  he  is  now  stationed.  In 
1876  he  went  to  Canada  and  organized  the  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  Church  in  Chatham,  Ontario; 
Roderick  Station,  Windsor,  and  other  points.  The 
church  now  called  New  Canaan  Station,  Gesto,  Ontario, 
was  the  first  permanent  establishment  of  the  Zion  con- 
nection in  Canada  after  the  British  Methodists  divided 
under  Bishop  Greene.  He  is  a  man  of  marked  ability, 
a  close  student,  well  posted  in  literature,  genial  and 
kind-hearted.  He  was  delegate  to  the  General  Confer- 
ence which  met  in  Louisville,  Ky.,  1876,  and  several  other 
General  Conferences.  He  was  also  a  member  of  several 
important  committees.  He  published  a  pamphlet  of  two 
sermons  on  Our  Fallen  Heroes  and  The  Signs  of  the 
Times,  which  was  highly  commended  by  the  press. 
Rev.  Ross  is  extensively  known  as  an  able  theologian  and 
logical  preacher,  whose  life  and  character  as  a  Christian 
minister  give  power  to  his  sermons  and  win  souls  to  Christ. 
He  is  fortunate  in  having  a  companion  who  is  among 
our  very  best,  most  useful  and  intelligent  women. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       619 
REV.   M.   G,   THOMAS. 

M.  G.  Thomas  was  born  in  Montgomery  County,  Ala., 
November,  1847.  He  was  converted  and  joined  the 
Church  in  1861.  He  petitioned  for  license  in  the  Quar- 
terly Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
South,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  in  1865,  but  license 


REV.    M.    G.    THOMAS. 


was  not  granted  him.  In  1866  he  came  to  Montgomery 
and  joined  the  church  known  as  the  Old  Ship,  under 
the  pastorate  of  Rev.  A.  Hannan.  He  was  licensed  to  ex- 
hort in  1867,  and  also  received  local  preacher's  license 
the  same  year.  He  was  admitted  on  trial  in  the  Ala- 
bama Conference  in  1868,  and  was  ordained  deacon  by 
Bishop  J.   J.  Clinton.      He   was    married    in    1868.      He 


620  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

was  ordained  elder  in  1869  by  Bishop  Clinton,  and  was 
appointed  to  the  Wetumpka  Station,  where  he  labored  for 
four  years.  He  was  appointed  presiding  elder  by  Bishop 
Thompson  in  1882,  and  served  for  three  years.  In  1885 
he  was  appointed  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  Mount  Zion 
Church  in  Montgomery,  at  which  he  served  for  two  years. 
In  1887  he  was  appointed  to  Butler's  Chapel,  Greenville, 
by  Bishop  Lomax.  In  1888  he  was  appointed  Presiding 
Elder  of  the  Evergreen  District,  which  he  served  for  two 
years.  In  1891  he  was  appointed  to  the  Opelika  District, 
on  which  he  is  now  serving  his  third  year.  He  has  rep- 
resented his  Annual  Conference  in  three  General  Con- 
ferences, namely,  1872,  1888,  and  1892.  He  was  elected 
as  a  delegate  to  the  General  Conference  at  New  York  in 
1884,  but  was  sick  and  hence  unable  to  attend.  He  has 
edited  a  paper  for  several  years  known  as  the  Alabama 
Gtride,  Alabama  Enterprise,  and  Southern  Review. 

Brother  Thomas  had  but  poor  educational  advantages, 
but  he  has  great  push  and  considerable  native  ability. 
His  most  notable  characteristic  is  an  abundance  of  snap 
and  self-confidence.  One  who  did  not  know  him  would  be 
more  inclined  to  take  him  for  a  "  Bethel"  than  a  "  Zion  " 
man.  Nevertheless,  he  is  strongly  attached  to  the  Church 
of  his  choice. 

REV.    A.    G.    ODEN. 

A.  G.  Oden  was-born  in  Beaufort  County,  N.  C,  July 
8,  1840.  When  eight  years  of  age  his  parents  were  sold 
from  him,  and  he  grew  up  without  a  father's  or  mother's 
care.  June  16,  1863,  he  enlisted  as  a  soldier  at  Wash- 
ington, N.  C.  He  was  awarded  a  medal  by  General 
Grant    for   bravery  in    the    battle    of    Newmarket,   Va., 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    ZION    CHURCH.       62  1 

which  was  lost  or  misplaced  by  the  commanding  officer 
of  his  company,  and  it  never  reached  his  hands.  In 
July,  1866,  he  was  honorably  discharged  from  the  army 


MAJ.    A.    G.    ODEN. 

and  began  teaching  school,  although  he  had  never  received 
a.  day's  instruction  in  school  himself.  The  school  was  well 
attended,  but  his  income  being  very  meager  from  that 
source  young  Oden  went  to  work  in  the  shingle  swamps 
and  did  fairly  well.     Next  he  was  employed  in  ditching. 


622  ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 

In  the  latter  part  of  1872  he  entered  into  a  bargain  with 
a  Mr.  Charles  Jones  to  teach  him  vocal  music  in  return 
for  learning  the  shoemaking  trade  in  his  shop.  Oden 
was  not  long  in  acquiring  all  that  Jones  knew  about  the 
business,  and  then  a  Northern  man  agreed  to  complete 
his  education  on  that  line  in  consideration  of  a  money- 
loan.  Before  the  loan  was  paid  he  was  enabled  to  make 
a  comfortable  living  from  his  trade.  Since  1872  he  has 
been  an  active  worker  in  the  Church,  societies,  and  poli- 
tics ;  has  attended  all  the  Annual  Conferences  since 
1878,  and  in  1891  became  a  member  of  the  North  Car- 
olina Conference  by  virtue  of  his  position  as  local  book 
agent.  He  attended  the  General  Conference  which  met 
at  New  Berne,  N.  C,  in  1888,  as  a  lay  delegate,  and  as  a 
ministerial  delegate  he  was  present  at  the  General  Con- 
ference which  convened  at  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  in  1892.  He 
has  been  for  twenty  years  a  trustee  and  chorister,  for 
eleven  years  a  class  leader,  and  for  seventeen  years  a 
preacher's  steward.  He  has  been  thrice  elected  coroner 
of  Craven  County,  and  was  elected  to  the  Board  of  Alder- 
men from  the  Fifth  Ward  of  his  city.  He  also  holds 
prominent  positions  in  very  many  orders  and  societies, 
being  Master  of  King  Solomon's  Lodge  No.  1,  A.  O.  of 
F.  A.  M.  ;  President  of  the  Relief  Society  D.  G.  M.  of 
Masons ;  and  W.  P.  of  the  Eastern  Star.  He  has  also 
served  as  Judge  Advocate  in  the  North  Carolina  Depart- 
ment of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 


AFRICAN    METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.       623 


VARICK  MEMORIAL  BUILDING  AND  AFRICAN 
METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  ZION  PUBLISHING 
HOUSE. 


624 


ONE    HUNDRED    YEARS    OF   THE 


SUMMARY  BY   CONFERENCES. 


Conferences. 


Allegheny 

Arkansas 

California 

Central  North  Carolina 

Alabama 

East    Tennessee,    Virginia,    and 

North  Carolina 

Florida 

Genesee 

Georgia 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Michigan  and  Canada 

Missouri 

New  England 

New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

North  Georgia 

North  Louisiana 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Palmetto 

Philadelphia  and  Baltimore 

South  Carolina 

South  Florida 

South  Mississippi 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Virginia 

West  Alabama 

West  Tennessee  and  Mississippi. 

Western  North  Carolina 

African  Mission 


20 

25 
10 
50 
80 

30 
30 
20 

52 
36 
20 

10 

35 
25 
23 
40 
70 
59 
25 
23 
10 
48 

65 
40 

3i 
30 

65 
27 
45 
60 

28 
85 


3  C  . 

'a  rt  2 
2  £§ 

9-2  S 


5 

1 
8 
18   20 


-J  5 


IO 
21 

3 

40 

149 

43 
7 
6 

20 

77 
10 

7 
12 

18 
20 

25 
210 

20 

8 
2 

3 
80 
20 

no 
10 
23 
30 
21 
3S 

106 

21 

70 

3 


8 

2 

5i 

130 

24 
4 
3 

12 
30 
18 
3 
5 
8 
6 

10 
90 
9 
4 
5 
1 

59 
12 

75 
8 
11 
21 
14 
27 
58 
15 
49 


Total 1,218 


626 


4081  72  i  212  296  1,134  775 


AFRICAN    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL   ZION    CHURCH.     625 


SUMMARY    BY   STATES. 


States. 


Alabama 

Arkansas  

California 

Connecticut 

Delaware 

District  of  Columbia. 

Florida 

Georgia 

Illinois 

Indiana 

Kentucky 

Louisiana 

Maryland 

Massachusetts 

Maine 

Michigan 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

New  Jersey 

New  York 

North  Carolina 

Ohio 

Oregon 

Pennsylvania 

Rhode   Island 

South   Carolina 

Tennessee 

Texas 

Virginia 

Wisconsin 


J3    C 

s  « 
£0 


341 
29 

13 

14 

2 

6 

61 

72 

5 

5 

55 

23 

13 

7 


77 

6 

26 

47 

554 

8 

2 

k,  2 

3 
130 

67 
47 
69 


328 

26 

6 


6 
61 

65 

5 

5 
52 
21 
10 

6 

4 
60 

6 

24 

47 

543 

5 

2 

55$ 
3 
128 
64 
38 
64 


wU 


Total 1,755 


17,800 

10,100 

2,600 

2,900 

H5 

3400 

23.589 
24,900 
2,000 
2,400 
12,125 
5.650 
2,375 
2,700 


1.425 

24,700 

3.3oo 

7.50o 

i8,375 

179,270 

1,160 

300 
17,623 

600 
66,770 
24,200 
11,500 
24,000 

150 


1,645$  493.539  r°2 


cnO 


2,300 

200 

1,950 

200 


600 


150 

350 

400 

75 

300 

1,100 

3,^75 

55o 


275 

250 
250 

1.775 
800 


$430,800 

22,200 

67,200 

79.35o 

500 

298,800 

90,745 
89,400 
73,400 
54,7oo 
109,800 
14,020 
24,150 
97.5oo 


4,600 

27,925 

36,000 

145,500 

419,200 

638,600 

33,ooo 

20,000 

296,000 

20,  coo 

131,325 

111,150 

26,450 

109,600 

400 


•°  E  • 
-o  E 


105,333 
7,41s 

2,627 
1,042 

15s 

2,495 
14. 791 
10,416 

434 
i,339 
7,446 
3.147 
1,412 

970 
9 

115 
9,168 

3,174 
3,48o 

8,938 

121,154 

554 

275 

9,476 

500 

45,8So 

18,481 

6,927 

i8,4Si 

102 


14,1503,133,3951  411,76s 


10 


^^m 


m  ■ 


■ 


■ 


m  Ml 


■I 


>  m m 


l\d 


■ 


■ 


